Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): This is the Power Walk Ministries broadcast and our current series is titled, "Endurance for a time like this." Reverend Paul Cannings brings us this teaching with a keen desire to help us stand strong and experience an abundant life even with the uncertainties and challenges that we might be facing.

Some situations in our lives may not change. How can we know God's love through this and persevere even when it's really hard? Answering these questions, here is Dr. Cannings now with the message, "The Cost of Victory."

Dr. Paul Cannings: If there's anything that life has taught me is the fact that some situations are not going away. They're just not. People can have diabetes. It's not going away. People will change their diets; they do all kinds of things to make it better. But the issue's there. Some people are struggling with the fact that they were born disabled. Unless God does a miracle, that's there. I've met people who are born with not just disabilities, but they're born into a family that was so dysfunctional. There are a lot of different insecurities that they struggle with.

Could you imagine being Moses? For 40 years, these people are complaining and griping and dying, and he's got to do this ministry over and over and over again. Every day that he went to the tent of meeting and sent his wife back to her father. It was just tough ministry life. This is how it's going to be for 40 years. He wasn't one of the ones who said he didn't want to go into the promised land. He wanted to go. They didn't want to go. They voted him out, as a matter of fact. They said, "We'll go without Moses. We'll go fight without Moses. We don't need Moses." They did that. But he has to lead them through this mess for 40 years.

I wish I could say that the marriage may change or that the health is going to be miraculously changed. God allows it, and we have to develop a focus on how we walk through this as we continue this series on endurance. The cost of victory is where we are. I don't like this verse particularly, but when you look at the life of Paul, I can't say every verse in the Bible I like, but every verse in the Bible I love. I'm committed to obeying it, but I can't tell you I always like it. It makes sense, but it's not a fun verse. "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."

He is so committed to walking with Christ that whatever suffering comes, he is at the point of conforming to his death. He'll just accept that this is taking him to death. What verse is that that I would like? But I love it because it teaches me the level of sacrifice that Paul was committed to because of his commitment to trust Christ no matter what the circumstances are. The victory they experienced, no matter what the cost was, was more important than their own life. That's where we are on endurance. If you start tracking this from the Bible, from Abraham all the way to a man on the Isle of Patmos writing Revelation, you see this core trait, this biblical trait, that made them great men and women of God.

We now look at them as biblical heroes and here is the pattern we see in their life that we may mimic. If we do so, we'll experience God in a different way. I want to bring us in this study to never forget that this cost has a tremendous blessing in heaven. We've talked about the crowns. So understand, here's the first thing we could learn from this. We learn this by looking at Moses, who had the best of life when he first started out. Great life, great opportunities in his life, had it all. But Moses gave it up.

In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 27, this is what the scripture says: "By faith he forsook Egypt." It was a decision that he made that based on his mom's influence on his life, this is not the place I need to be. He had to come to a point in his life around the age of 40 or so where he had to decide what direction he was going to take. When Moses came to that decision making, he decided, "I'm going to forsake all these riches, all these pleasures, riding around in the best chariots, living in the best places, eating the best food. I am shoving it all to the side."

Because I know what my mom is teaching, I learned the history that is taking place. Don't forget there's no written Bible at this time. Moses is the one who writes Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy and all that stuff. We may have the story of Job around because Job was written very early. But we don't have a Bible around at this time. Moses is just listening to the oral traditions that were passed down that impacted his life of his mom. Moses is listening to that and Moses said, "No, I don't want any of this. I would rather walk away from all of this knowing that I'm heading into what, I don't know, but I'm choosing God."

Same thing you see with Daniel. Daniel chapter 1 verse 8, "I choose God." Unlike all of the other young men that were there in their time, peer pressure didn't matter. I'm going to do what the Bible says. That's the first thing that we come right back to because the word of God leads us to acts of faith. The word of God must become our everything. You might say, "Wait a minute now, we could use some common sense." No, common sense is not a part of God's structure. Because as I explained earlier, Satan is a common sense person.

Anytime you see Satan interacting throughout the Bible, it's always common sense. "Come on, Eve. Listen to me for a minute." Common sense. You go to the temptation of Jesus Christ. Common sense. Satan loves common sense. The Bible says do not lean to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge me. Come to me. I'm the parachute when you jump out the plane of life. So he's saying that this is critical. The Bible must be looked at as sufficient.

In 1 Peter it says it does not wither away; it lasts forever. Isaiah 55 verse 11 says it does not come back empty. The Bible would say in 2 Peter chapter 1, as I've quoted throughout this time, we have everything we need for life and godliness in the word of God. It's everything. For Paul, it's the same thing, 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 17, everything, it's all there. When we come there, we have the anchor for life. Here's the second thing we learn when we look at this.

We have to learn, which we talked about earlier when we are dealing with pressing through this process, to hold fast. Job doesn't know if his illness is going away. There's nothing in there that says, "All right, Job, listen, I'm going to let Satan do this, right? And when Satan is finished doing this, it'll be a few days and a few months, and then you'll be fine and I'll bless you again." Many people believe Job's experience is taking place way early and the book is the first book written in the Bible.

Job is not sitting here with 66 books in the Bible, but Job's relationship with God is sincere. This is what he says in Job chapter 2 verse 9. And then after all the stuff is going on and Job's sores and boils are scratching him and he's getting stuff to scratch on it, it's just a horrible thing. His kids are all dead. Property destroyed, business is done. In verse 9, "Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die." Job's response was because now you're going through it because you've accepted that this is something I have to go through.

This is what God is allowing me to experience and it's not going away. Since he's decided it's not going away, I'm not backing up. I'm not just going to bear up under it. I want to go through it. Here is what he says in verse 10: "But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?" In all this, did not Job sin with his lips? No. Understand when we look at this scenario, his wife is going, "Okay, it's obvious God has kind of backed up on you. It's done. So why don't you just go ahead and accept death? Because it's obvious you don't have God."

When I look at it, I don't really condemn her as sometimes we tend to do. She lost 10 kids. Which woman would not be messed up from that? She's dealing with the fact that her husband's business is in smithereens and she's watching her husband suffer. So she's saying, "God has turned on you. There's no God there, so why don't you just go ahead and die?" So you don't have to deal with this pain, the emotional pain, the business pain, the physical pain you're going through, the mental anguish. Just end it. This is the time to just die. And don't commit suicide, let God take you out.

But Job is saying, "No, no, I am going to go through it. God has blessed me to see, like Paul would say, I've learned to have plenty, I've learned to go without. But I've learned one thing. I've learned to be content in whatever state I'm in." So I'm going to keep pressing towards the mark and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I'm going to keep doing whatever God has placed upon me to do. The word of God is the anchor. There's a commitment to keep pressing through it.

Therefore, what is God's agenda for my life? What is God calling for me to be about right now? That's what we come to when Timothy is going through all this pain, Timothy is going through the struggle and he just wants to give up. Paul says this to him, "Suffer hardship, be a good soldier. Press on, man, do not neglect your call. Kindle the gift within you. Fight forward." He says, "I fought the good fight, I finished the course. Laid up for me is a crown of righteousness." So Timothy, you keep on pressing. There's going to be persecution when you hold to the word of God, but you must press.

Understanding the agenda of God because I'm committed to keep doing what God says. The Bible says that's the victory. The strength within me, the ability that God has given within me has so grown, has so become strong, that no matter what is taking place, I can still find the strength to get up and to keep doing what God tells me to do despite what I feel each and every day. That's the victory. That means when I arrive in heaven, I've got the crown of righteousness. When I arrive in heaven, I've got the crown of life. When I arrive in heaven, he is going to bless me to share his throne with him because the agenda of God set by the anchor in my life that I can't help but keep pressing.

You see this in the military. Despite the bombs, despite the bullets flying by, despite the fact that their buddy is dead and they're still going forward because they have orders. And those soldiers we call heroes. Those soldiers are what are in Washington receiving the Medal of Honor. Folks, it's the same thing when Paul is saying, "Be a soldier, Timothy. Press towards the mark." When we do that and nothing is changing around us, everything is staying the same, the Bible is saying you've got to keep the victory ahead, not just the struggles that you're experiencing. Don't let the struggles we're experiencing steal the victory that God has for us. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): That's right, Dr. Cannings. The Bible provides us with examples such as Moses, Job, Paul, and Anna to encourage us to obey God and persevere and to learn contentment through our trials. Friends, if you're going through a trial and you need this encouragement on an ongoing basis, then contact us and secure your copy of this message or the entire series. Mention "Endurance for a time like this" when you call us at 281-260-7402. Again, that number is 281-260-7402. Or you can visit us online at powerwalkministries.org.

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): Again, that's powerwalkministries.org. We'd love to hear from you. 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. Be sure to join us tomorrow for a continuation of this series on endurance. And remember, just as we heard today, don't let the struggles you're experiencing today steal the victory that God has for us.