Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): You're listening to the Power Walk Ministries broadcast. Thanks for joining us today. "It Takes a Village" is our current series brought to you by Reverend Paul Cannings. In the book of Acts, chapter 12, Peter is alone in jail, but the church was praying for him earnestly. Through this experience, Pastor Cannings challenges us to remember that God is for us and we're part of a body of believers. Here he is now with the message, "Trust in the Dark."

Dr. Paul Cannings: Many times when life hits us and it hits us really hard, we tend to think that God has left us. Does God really care? Is God really concerned about me? People are struggling with health issues. There are medications to pay for that insurance sometimes doesn't fully cover. Sometimes people are doing this in their senior years where they don't really want to bother their kids, but they're hanging in there with a fixed income.

Sometimes in the midst of all of this, people are lonely and all of this is taking place within the last two, almost three years now. So many times, people feel bewildered and their struggles when they obey God don't get less intense. Sometimes it gets more intense. I mean, think about the people who obeyed God like a Daniel. He ended up in the lions' den. And Joseph ended up in twelve years of imprisonment. David, anointed king—he didn't ask God to anoint him king. He was minding his own business doing what his daddy said and taking care of sheep, killing a lion and a bear, and experiencing the power of God and having a good old time writing one Psalm after the next. And there you go, become king right when there is another king that God decided to turn His back on that left him miserable. And now he has to go play for that same miserable person. "I didn't ask for this life," David could have said.

And he wrote many times in Psalms, you see him cry out to God. Many times we can feel that way. Obeying God leads to more trauma. And that's why I want us to spend today to remind us of who God is in those times. I want you to see in a passage of scripture in Acts chapter 12 what it's like when you're doing the will of God and you are locked up in jail. Many times when you're doing the will of God, that's when Satan's attacks are higher because he's trying to prevent us, and God many times will keep His word where it is because He's testing whether or not we will keep His word, believe in Him no matter what. God has taught me this in my life. That no matter what is going on around me, where is your heart when it comes to God?

Even when it takes you to some very lonely places where you're the only person believing in this. You're the only person believing that God is leading you in the direction He's leading you. But everything else says, "This could be messed up." Does our commitment and faith and walk in God still keep us pointed to where He wants us to be? Do we still keep running the race that is set before us, or do we let our emotions, our insecurities, our anxiety take the best of us and say, "I got to figure this out" and go to our own understanding, only to find that that makes our path crooked, not straight?

That's the test. The test is when the intensity of a struggle continues to intensify. Does it demonstrate the depth of our faith or how weak our faith is? You see, before Peter could be in this struggle, the depth of his faith showed itself not to be deep enough. And that's why Christ would say to him, "If you are going to be a leader with me, you must first deny yourself. You must become a slave and then you must be willing to die for me." In Mark chapter 10, verse 41 through verse 44, the last one Peter wasn't willing to do. The disciples weren't willing to do. They walked away when Christ said, "I'm going to die. You're not going to die."

But they saw death and they ran. Peter is not going to let that happen again. As a matter of fact, First Peter teaches us what Peter felt like. That he was in a fiery furnace that God was refining. That's how Peter felt. Peter learned in that process. Jesus Christ showed him persecution after persecution that Jesus Christ was going through to the point where He had no place to lay His head. Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head. The Pharisees are against Him. The Sadducees are against Him. The high priests are against Him. His own family is against Him. And Jesus Christ is in a lonely place, but He still must be about His Father's business highlighting how committed He is to be in the will of God.

No matter where it takes Him all the way to a cross, He's still going to do it because that's how deeply convinced He is that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly all I can ever ask or think. So I am going to do what He says no matter how dark the hole seems that He's taking me to. That's why trials expose the depth of our faith. And that's why Peter is now saying, "You are not going to get me to turn my back on Jesus ever again." I saw the model. He literally teaches us this in 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 22 through verse 25. He says He did all of this as an example for me to follow. But I didn't get it.

He did not come and live this wonderful life on earth where everything was paid for. He could have called down a million dollars and there it was. He could have called down a mansion and there it was. He could have had angels just flow Him through Jerusalem and there it was. But He didn't do it. He lived in poverty. He lived in rejection. He lived in loneliness to show that if this life takes you there to do the will of God, it does not mean that God left you. The depth of our faith is exposed in the depth of our trials. If all I'm going to do when God comes and allows me to go through a difficult time makes me seek Him more—study His scripture, seek godly advice, pray without ceasing, supplicate before God—those three things will definitely be there.

Teach me, God, what You want me to teach me. Okay, what's the main part of this trial I'm going through? Okay, let me get that word, let me get that circumstance and go in the Old Testament, find an example of someone going through the same thing and then I'm going to go into the New Testament and see what the concepts are and that's going to become my devotions. Why are you saying that? I'm saying that because that's saying when we are dealing with this that the Word of God is sufficient. Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything, everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

The Word of God is adequate to equip the man of God for every good work. So when I see the Word of God as sufficient for everything I face, I immediately go there. That's number one. I want to seek it out. Then I'm going to seek godly advice. Proverbs would say a wise person seeks godly advice. So we are now seeking godly advice. Why? Because we are praying for God's wisdom and that's part of seeking that wisdom. Then we're going to pray without ceasing. That's what Paul would do. He said when I pray, because I don't want to be anxious, I get to the point where I supplicate. I get all down on my chest and I'm crying out to God because that's the only place I can go.

That's where faith takes us when everything is going against us and we are walking with God. The second thing it does is that the faith in the midst of everything we are going through exposes to us the powerful work of God. Why? The Word of God does not return void. It does not return void. It's going to expose the powerful work of God in our lives because He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. Why does this Holy Spirit come into our lives? He came in to guide us into truth. What does He come to do? To teach us the truth of God so we know how to walk in the light as He is in the light.

The truth is the revelation of God's Word in real-life situations. So when a person comes to that, they holding to the Word of God. The Word of God comes through in His timetable. When all of that happens, the Bible proves itself to be true, the person's faith just gets deeper. That's exactly what you see here in Acts chapter 12 verse 11. He says, when Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel." Now I know for sure? Come on, Peter. Didn't He say that "I will never leave you nor forsake you" in Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 through 20? He said He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Peter, didn't He say you're going to be brought before magistrates, all these different things, but don't worry about it. I will be fighting for you and I will take care of you. Didn't He promise that? Yes. Didn't He say you're going to have much tribulation? Yes. Nothing you're experiencing, Peter, is anything new. Nothing is new. But Peter is saying, "Now I'm getting to my senses here. I'm learning from everything He has said that He never left me. No matter how lonely I felt in that jail cell, no matter how forsaken I seem in that jail cell, there's nobody around." The church had grown to like fifteen thousand members. Ain't nobody there.

Where's all these people that he's been serving every day? They're nowhere to be found. Peter's alone like his Master was, rejected, accused of things he never even thought to do. The leaders of the Pharisees are just against him. Peter is now realizing, "Oh my gosh, I'm coming to my senses now that Jesus Christ has always been with me. I just had to wait on this third thing: His timing. His timing." Look at verse 11. He says, "Now I know for sure, now," timing. "Now I know for sure." Because don't forget, he held to the Word of God that led him to the most difficult situations you've ever experienced.

This is a point that I've made. Our faith will take us to the very sometimes the worst places we don't want to be. But we got to make sure the Word of God is properly, accurately interpreted when we are walking this way. You want to make sure you're walking in the truth, okay? Don't get it mixed up with false doctrine and demons. First Timothy chapter 4 taking us into dark places. Please don't do that. The Word of God must be true. Second Peter chapter 1 says it must be truth, meaning we must understand what it means contextually. What is the background? What did it mean to the people that He's writing to?

And when I find out what it means to them, then I can properly interpret it, then I can properly apply it, and then I can properly illustrate it. That's the structure. If I'm not going on that structure and I just grab a verse and run with it because this is what it now means, that's a wrong way to apply God's Word. It's wrong because a word like "present your bodies a living sacrifice" don't mean the same in our culture. It means a lamb being offered in the temple where all the parts of the lamb was being sacrificed before God and use every part of the lamb. So He's talking about what He's mentioned in chapter 6, He's bringing back up in chapter 12.

And then you have to figure that out within that context and that's why it came through the renewing of the mind. So we can't just grab it and run with it. We have to learn it within that context. That's why the Bible says get past the teachers who are committed to go to school to learn, to grow and come to an understanding of the scriptures because they not only studied it in the Word of God, they applied it into their lives. So therefore, they could be pastor teachers. That's why He's giving us this and then giving us people with a gift of teaching because they are explaining the text correctly.

He is in jail. He can't get out. He's got two sets of guards. This is iron cells. These iron bars, you can't just get out of it. Then they put a chain around it. Then you got Herod, then you got a barracks of soldiers in that facility. You just can't walk out because you believe in Jesus. It doesn't work that way. So Peter was absolutely totally dependent on God and it's His timing when He brings us out. And that's why trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will open up the jail cells.

He will fix the problems in our marriage. He will fix the financial struggle we're going to have. He will give us protection by God putting angels around us like Psalm 34 verse 7 would say. Guard us like He did Job. He will bless us by talking to God for us and making intercession for us because He told us He would never leave us nor forsake us. We must trust Him. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. God is the one who determines when He will bring us out of a trial, but we must continue to trust in Him. We want you to know that this is a listener-supported broadcast. Our purpose is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and equip and encourage the body of Christ. So would you consider making a one-time or regular monthly financial contribution to help us get God's Word out? If so, please visit us online at powerwalkministries.org. If you'd prefer to call us, our phone number is 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Please know that we count on your prayerful and financial support for our ministry. God bless you.

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): We appreciate your support. And now remember to faithfully praise and worship God, share the gospel, and be confident in the support and prayers of other believers.