Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): You're just in time for today's Power Walk Ministries broadcast with Pastor Paul Cannings. We're so glad that you've joined us today as Pastor Cannings continues the series titled Tap In. He's teaching from 2 Corinthians chapter 3. We read that Paul faced some of the most severe trials of his life, and yet he speaks of his confidence in Christ.

This is Paul's testimony of how inadequate he is and how important it is for him to rely on God through his life. Let's listen as Pastor Cannings takes us further into this chapter with today's message, Strength in His Defense.

Dr. Paul Cannings: There are many struggles that are going to happen in this life. I wish I could tell you they're not. Sometimes one wrong decision can cause a person to live through a nightmare. I've seen that in many aspects of people's lives just in the long ministry that God has blessed for me to have.

So there are all of these different things that could make life seem as if it is empty even though we believe in Christ, even though we have trust in him, even though we believe that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly all we could ever ask or think. But finding that inner strength and being able to tap into it is very important.

But how do we tap into it? That's a process. That's what we want to tap into in this series this week that I pray is meaningful to you as we continue to grow spiritually. Let's look at verse 4 of 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And yesterday, if you were listening, we focused on how critical, how important it is for us to do number one, trust. None of this would work without that fundamentally taking place. Christ would always say, "Trust me." Relationships fundamentally have to focus from trust. When trust is violated, relationships struggle.

So that's why he says, "Trust me." And he creates a motion here in the text that tells us he wants this to be an active habit that happens in our lives on a repetitive basis. He says, "And such trust have we through Christ." This is how I'm going to work on this, but I'm doing it through Christ. I want you to see that preposition there, through Christ, because this is huge. Paul would say, "I can do all things through Christ. I'm more than a conqueror because of Christ."

So when we come to this issue through Christ, it is critical if I choose to trust him. In other words, I develop the disposition, the mindset, the attitude to decide when issues come up, I'm going to put my full weight, full dependency on God. Done. I'm not changing that. There are four principles that I want us to look at because this is what moves us towards God.

So this Christ leads us to God, and that experience of God is what connects us to these powerful examples we could see in the Old Testament. Red Sea experiences, Daniel, Joseph, all them big things, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And then the day-to-day issues that people faced in their life that God overcame. The widow that God healed her son because of Elijah.

And God fed her constant oil so that she could have oil to take care of the lamps, take care of selling it to people who now need oil for their lamps, and then they could make food and cakes for her son, the only son that she has after her husband died. So you've got the day-to-day influence of God in a person's life that in spite of the struggles, her husband didn't come back the minute Elijah was there.

And her financial struggles were still in front of her, but God provided a vehicle because of the day-to-day issues she found strength in her connection with God. So here are these four things that I love for us to focus on as we go through this week of tapping in. Here's the first thing that we would find in finding strength through Christ. First thing is very obvious, and that is his word.

Christ, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Why was that so huge? That says strength. God took the time in the Old Testament to make sure that the word logos means whatever God is thinking, Christ is the one who is illuminating, bringing that out from God's thought patterns. So God decided in the Old Testament in Genesis to speak everything into being.

So that became huge in how John would then say in John chapter 1, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word is God." In other words, the person. Because we can look at that in Colossians chapter 1, verse 15 through 18, that all things are through him, for him, and by him. And we learn in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1 through 3, that Jesus Christ is the one who's the word who holds all things together.

The word holds it together. That's why he can work all things out for our good for those who love him. To love him, John 14:15, is those who keep his commands. Those who no matter what they're facing will decide to implement the word of God. That's their Bible study. That is their GPS system for life.

That is like going to life saying, "I am lost, so I automatically need to pray for wisdom. I automatically need to hold on to this word of God and walk in it." That's the power Colossians chapter 1, verse 9 through 12 will talk about. It will become a powerful movement in our lives because the word does not return void. It is a powerful word, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 says, that can divide bone and marrow.

So that's the power he's showing us from Genesis chapter 1 and 2, all the way into Revelation. This word that should never be altered. If somebody alters it, I'll send them with plagues. This word. Satan needs to pollute it because if he pollutes it, then we're no longer walking in the truth. The spirit of God illuminates the word.

So the minute we pollute the word of God, the spirit of God is not going to be able to—he chooses because the word of God must stay pure because it represents Jesus. The flesh, it became flesh and dwelt among us. So we learn how to operate in day-to-day life watching Jesus. Money's not going to decide whether or not I obey God.

So we learn the word in flesh, seeing it from day-to-day struggles, whatever we face. The Bible is saying if that's polluted, we pollute not just information on a page in the Bible, we pollute the very nature, character, purpose of what God is about in the person of Jesus Christ. And Holy Spirit came to help him, not us first. Him first. So if I let the word of God be polluted, I just mess up the process.

You may have a wonderful gas in the tank, you may have the best transmission, most powerful engine, but the car will sputter because the fuel filter is clogged. So we can't mess up this process that way. We must keep the word of God pure, which means to study it, to go through, take pains with it. The word of God will illuminate when you start practicing what you're learning.

So the first thing we need to learn is important is that we keep the word of God pure and practice it. The second thing we talked about yesterday, and that is we practice this word of God. What does that mean? It means I hold to the word of God, keep his commandments. I must keep them. That shows I love him more than I love myself.

That's why I must deny myself, pick up whatever cross. It could be marriage, it could be loneliness, it could be money issues, it could be health issues. I will pick up that cross, but I'm going to do it so surrendered to him, that's why we started out with trust, so surrendered to him that whatever he's telling me to do, it doesn't matter the cost.

It doesn't matter what struggles I may go through, I'm going to hold to him and practice it because that's when he transforms me functionally into a brand-new creation. So this is what Paul teaches, right? Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 through 13. He says that I must work out this word in fear and in trembling because sometimes it's intimidating when you're standing in front of Goliaths or you're dealing with a Nebuchadnezzar being in a lion's den.

That's why Christ would always say, "Don't fear." In other words, the only fear we have is of him. That's how we end up with wisdom. Fearing God, referencing God, leads to wisdom. And we pray for it, it automatically is going to be there, he says. So sometimes it costs when God is saying love your wife, no matter how she's acting. Let me teach you from the word of God what that love looks like.

What does love look like when a person is an enemy in your home or at the job? How do I love an enemy? Now that becomes my study, my devotions. It's not first what they're doing. No, he says love the Lord all your heart, your soul, and your mind, and you'll love anybody after that. But you must love him first.

So if I can't love God first, the problem is I'm not willing to deny myself and pick up the cross. It's not the person I don't love that's the issue. God is just exposing I don't love him first. I love myself first. There's a next issue: a prayer life. A prayer life is so important, it's so important. Look at Jesus Christ. This is the one that humbles me the most, folks, is that Jesus Christ walked on earth.

He's Christ. I mean, what could he not do? Walking on water, raising somebody up from the grave after four days. I mean, what could he not do? But he spends—I want you to go find in your Bible how many times Jesus Christ went away to an alone place and prayed. Jesus. He did it so much the disciples said, "Teach us how to pray." Because they're seeing this model, this person repetitively, constantly going before his father, praying, so teach us how to pray.

You see, Paul would say, "I pray without ceasing." Folks, when you're applying God's word and the struggles in your life are in front of you, guess what you're going to end up doing? Praying. It'll become something you don't stop doing. Here's the next thing that we do when we learn to go through Christ. When we learn to go through Christ, we need to seek wise counsel from people who are actually living out what we are seeking to learn.

I never go to people who preach the Bible all this other stuff, but you don't see the example of their application of the word of God in their life. It's irrelevant to me. A lot of Bible knowledge, that's fine. Pharisees had a lot of knowledge. The elders had a lot of knowledge. High priests had a lot of knowledge. But they nailed Jesus Christ to the cross.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 in the context of Paul writing to the Corinthians, he says if all you have is knowledge, then all you're going to become is conceited and no effect to God is possible. So a person that's applying that is important, and seeking godly counsel helps us to stay in Christ. Here's the last one here in terms of staying in Christ, and that is take on the trials and count them joy.

I know that sounds crazy from starting where we started today, right? Matter of fact, there are four sets of trials, but if it's a trial of correction because I'm living wrong, then I need to humble myself, repent of my sin and go in that direction. If it's a trial of discipline and the Bible is saying, "Okay, you've got the Bible. Now it's just time like a football player. You've got what you need to play this game. You've got the helmet, got all the stuff.

Now go out with the playbook and apply it and learn the discipline of being beaten up, knocked down, whatever, but you're still going to believe you're going to win this game and you keep pushing." We go to war and the Bible is saying that war is going to be facing trials and learning the discipline of God. The trial of maturity is learning how to experience what the spirit of God inside of us is doing.

Learning how to become sensitive to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives. That's as we apply God's word, that is critical: to sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit, him reminding us of the word of God, illuminating the word of God to us, guiding us into truth. There's a list of things that the Holy Spirit does. We get sensitized to that spirit, we try to trust God even more, we tap into that strength, we experience God powerfully moving.

So trials of discipline, trials of correction, trials of purification when there's sin in our lives that we're willing to say, "Okay, God, I've sinned, I'm not going to dance around this, I'm going to turn around and do what I need to do." See, folks, when we are committed to this process, the Bible says I end up going through Christ and I end up experiencing the mighty power, creative ability, sustainability of God. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings, for laying out clearly how we too can walk by faith in this life. Now to purchase this message or browse through all of our ministry resources, call us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Or log on to powerwalkministries.org. If you'd prefer to write us, our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. Once again, our web address is powerwalkministries.org.

We'd love to hear from you, whether you'd like to secure a copy of a Power Walk resource or if you'd like to sign up for your financial support of this ministry. And 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.

And now remember, we too can count it all joy when we face trials if we keep in mind these principles of reading God's word, applying it, praying about everything, and trusting in God.