Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Welcome to this broadcast of Power Walk. We're excited to have you join us as Reverend Paul Cannings brings us part three in this series, Experiencing God's Peace. How can we still be at peace and know that God is in perfect control? Answering this question for us, here's Pastor Paul Cannings with today's message, Peace is Victory Over Death.

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the more difficult things that I've ever done as a pastor is to stand at the gravesite of an infant that was the first child of a couple that had done all the right things. They had done their best to submit to God, and the baby passed. It was a tough thing to stand next to. You sit back and you watch the couple as they cry, as they mourn, as they hug each other, and you pray that it doesn't divide them, but makes them stronger.

You pray for that and trust the Lord for that. You follow through on the process, you pray, and you reach out to the couple. You make sure they're fine because you're praying that in the midst of all of this, they don't lose the sense of God's peace. As we continue this study this week and dealing with the peace of God, how does that relate to anything that can exist in times that we live in?

People struggle. Their loved ones are gone. People that they love, that they see are doing what the will of God says. It hurts me to see that. A missionary in India passed away on the mission field for the Lord God and passed away. How do you deal with all of these things and not be angry at God? When we're talking about the peace of God, these are real things that the Bible understands will take place. It doesn't say it's not going to take place. It says there is a time to live and a time to die. That's what he says.

There's no guarantee when that would happen. Christ died at 33. So it's not like he died since he's Christ at 160 or like you would see in the Old Testament days, people living to 190 and all these different ages, Adam all the way to 900 and some years of age. No, Christ died at 33. So it's not like Jesus Christ is coming to these times and not knowing these times exist. When Jesus was born, babies were killed. So it's not that these scenarios are unique to us.

There were scenarios in the time of David when there was a plague because he chose to number people, and he had to beg God to stop the plague. So these things have taken place in scripture, but God is still saying we can be at peace. Is he being unreasonable? Why not just stop all of this? Why not just not let this happen? I mean, we want to enjoy our lives. We want to have a vacation every day, live in the best neighborhood, and drive the best. We want this dream to become a reality, but it's a nightmare. So how do we function in these times and still have peace that leads to joy and find strength?

Well, he tells us here because he's leaving the disciples in the midst of chaos because you have religious leaders killing Jesus. That doesn't make sense. This is not supposed to happen in Jerusalem. Okay, maybe he goes over and walks around in Rome talking against Caesar and he's dead, but not a group of religious leaders nailing him to the cross. That doesn't make sense, but that's what's going to happen.

So they're in this paradox of a situation, an oxymoron of a situation that should never have taken place. Then when they go out, the historical documents say they died brutal deaths, and he knows what's going to happen to them. He literally says some of you will not be here. He tells them this. So how do they, in the midst of death and disease and no hospitals they can run to if they got sick, make it every day?

Well, he tells them this one thing, and you're saying, "Jesus Christ, you're not thinking, man. You're going to say this one thing, that the Holy Spirit is your comforter?" We dealt with that and what that means yesterday. We dealt with the fact that God is not angry at us anymore. We don't have to walk around thinking God is mad at me. That statement could leave us. He's not. He's taken away his anger on Jesus Christ. We talked about that.

But today, because he knows that they're going to die, he's dealing now with how do we manage death and still experience peace? That's the issue because of what he is dealing with. He did not fix Earth. He's taking us to heaven. Earth is going to burn up. It's not getting fixed. So it's getting worse. He says our hearts can grow cold because of how bad it's going to get. Matthew 24, he's not fixing it.

At the end of the day, how do we function in it? This is what he tells us here in John chapter 14. He tells us here because he's telling them he's going to die, and they're not getting used to that fact. As a matter of fact, Peter would literally rebuke him for even saying it. In John 14, he says, "Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I wouldn't have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

In Matthew chapter 19, he would literally say to them when he's talking about the rich young ruler and he will not come to the kingdom of God because he loves his riches, and they said, "But look at us, we left everything to follow you." He says, "Oh, you're going to be blessed in heaven." So it's not like he didn't address this issue already. He's addressed it. He's told them, "You're going to have 12 thrones, you're going to exist in heaven, you're going to do great in heaven."

He's already explained all of this to them, but he's now, because they're having a difficult time parting from somebody they've loved dearly, he says, "Let not your hearts be troubled." How could that be? Now here's the first thing we learn that would hold our heart together when it is shattered. It does not have to put it back together because it holds it together.

Here's the first thing he's going to tell us that would help us with this whole aspect of peace. He said, "Believe in me." Believe in me. What does that mean? The word belief is the same word in Greek as faith, but when you see the difference in the Bible, it is trying to emphasize by the context a different connotation even though it's attached to the same word. What does all that mean? You see, the word believe, like he would say to Thomas, "You see, so you believe."

So the word believe, when you see it within those contexts, is talking about a full confidence that this can take place because I see it. I see it because it's taking place in front of my eyes. It is supernatural. It doesn't match up to logical ways of thinking, so it doesn't make any natural sense. It doesn't fit into any logical equations. So at the end of the day, I have to go beyond my humanity to accept what is in front of me. So since I have to go beyond my humanity to accept what's in front of me, it helps me to see it.

Thomas sees the holes in his hands and the hole in his side, and he's saying, "Okay, I get it." He could now believe that this supernatural thing of the resurrection took place because he is seeing the evidence that this is the same Jesus that was nailed on the cross. So because of that, he is saying, "I believe." So when he's saying this, he's saying, "Believe in me." What do you mean by believe in me? He's going to explain that.

In verse eight, he says, "Philip said unto him, 'Lord, show us the Father.' And Jesus said unto him, 'Have I been so long with you and yet has thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me believe.' That's what he's saying with the word believe. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. How sayeth thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father is in me by now? Come on now."

Watch this carefully. "I am in the Father. I am in the Father." Key. "I am." When the Father opened up the Red Sea, I calmed the seas. When the Father sent you manna from heaven, I took five loaves, two fishes, and gave it to you. I mean, what about the Father that you don't see the Son doing? The Father can take dry bones and bring them back to life. And what did you see me do with somebody dead? The Father can send you out to war in the wilderness and nobody dies. They can try to kill me and they can't touch me.

What is it that you see that the Father has done that I haven't done before your eyes? So how can you still not believe? Because if you are a Jew believing in God, that all the stuff of the Old Testament you were taught about with Moses and everybody else took place, and I come now and I am, and I'm showing you that I am that I am every day you walk with me, how could you still not believe?

That's what he is saying here. The first thing that is huge is that we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That's why you cannot accept Christ into your life until we believe that he is Jesus, the Son of God. He is deity. First John chapter 4, verse 1 through 3 will tell us we must believe that he is Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God. We must believe he is fully man, he is fully God, and that he rose from the dead.

Because if I don't believe that, then I don't believe in the trueness, the sincerity, the authenticity of who Jesus is. And if I don't believe in that, I have not accepted the way, verse six, the truth, and the life. And if I don't experience the Holy Spirit in my life, I can't get the peace I'm longing for when I'm facing death. Here's the second thing he's telling them. He's saying, "I am going ahead of you and I'm going to prepare a place for you."

Since I'm going ahead of you to prepare a place for you, why will you worry about death when you will not experience it anymore because I've conquered it? He's saying don't worry about death because I've overcome death. The Bible is teaching us that God is life. "I am the way, the truth, and the life," right here in John chapter 14. So if a person has life in them because God has quickened their spirit with his spirit, then a person is never separated from life, so they don't experience death.

An unsaved person experiences death because they are in hell alive, but they are separated from God. So since they're separated from life, they're dead because they are separated from life. You turn off the lights, there's darkness. When you turn on the lights, darkness is gone because you're in the light. The Bible is saying the same thing. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

So there's no way I will experience death anymore because Christ has conquered death. So that's why he's saying, "I'm giving you this comforter so that even when you face death, you're at peace because this Holy Spirit quickened to your spirit will bring your spirit before me, and as a result of that, there's no need for you to worry about death. So go serve me, give your heart for me, keep doing what you need to do for me, bless the name of Jesus, and continue to press on towards the mark of the high calling. Share the word of God, call people on the phone, share the gospel."

You can continue to do this because you're not going to die because there's no separation from God. That's why he says in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 through verse 15, forasmuch then as the children are partakers of the flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. We don't have to worry about this fear of death because he has conquered it for us. This Holy Spirit allows us to experience the life that he has provided. Therefore, I can live at peace even in the face of death because God is life. With the Holy Spirit, we have peace even when we face death. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you Reverend Cannings. With the Holy Spirit, we have peace even in the face of death. In addition, we head to a place where there will be no more crying or pain. Amen. For those of you who are listening and you're unsure about where you'll be after you die, and you'd like to find out more about that place where there's no crying or pain, then please give us a call at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I praise God that this ministry has blessed many lives. It encourages us to keep going. So pray folks that you would partnership with this ministry by encouraging other people to come and listen to us, by getting on our website, making purchases, by supporting our ministry. And I guarantee you, it will go to the better use of God's kingdom resources to touch lives. That is our heart because of what we felt God was calling us to is to touch lives. Share the word, pass it on, and pray for us regularly. God bless.

Guest (Male): Books and CDs by Pastor Cannings are available online at powerwalkministries.org. You'll also find this book, Giving Fear a Knockout Punch. Again, you'll find that at powerwalkministries.org. And now remember, we need not fear death. Christ conquered it and rose again and is seated in heaven, and he has promised the same for us.