Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today's Power Walk Ministries broadcast. Let me ask you a question. Why is it that God calls us to have childlike faith? A child does not question, but simply believes a promise given by an adult, and they expect it to be done. Friends, God wants us to operate in the same way.

So how do we do it? Through this series titled Don't Run Aimlessly, Reverend Cannings reminds us to be purposeful as we read God's word and truly believe all that God has for us. Let's listen to the message, Rest in His Word.

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the things that kept humbling me as a father was the fact that my sons believe everything I say. Wow, everything. I said, "Son, I'll be home at..." "Okay, Dad!" And he's literally waiting at the window, expecting me, keep asking his mom, "What is the time?" I remember my son coming to me and he's saying, "Dad, I want a scooter." Scooters were big in those days. He wanted a scooter. All his friends seemed to have scooters. He wanted a scooter.

I said, "Son, listen. I'll get you a scooter." This is the big word he knew meant a whole lot to me and he always asks this word, "Dad, do you promise?" Once I promised, he went and evangelized the whole neighborhood. "I'm going to get a scooter! I'm going to get a scooter!" I said, "Wow." It is really important in developing his life that I never lie to him, that I always tell the truth because that leads him to have such a level of expectation, such a level of confidence, such a level of trust. And he knows this love is sincere. That became such a huge issue for me as a father.

You know, God doesn't have to ever worry about lying. What we find in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18, this is what it says. It says that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. It is impossible for God to lie. He's holy. He is righteous, perfect in every way. There is nothing he has to be plugged into to do. There's nothing he needs to have happen in order for him to be able to do something because he's fully God all the time sustaining everything.

He sustains everything by his word. So could you imagine if something is false and he's saying it? Could you imagine when God says that his words keep the earth spinning? Could you imagine if he says something that isn't true, what would take place since the molecules are speeding up around the earth and they just stop? Could you imagine what would happen? The earthquakes, all kinds of things that would take place, the floods and everything would take place in the oceans. Could you imagine how messed up the earth would be within seconds if that was not true?

So God is saying way back in the Bible that Jesus Christ would come and die for our sins. Could you imagine as Gentiles if that wasn't true? So it is important, significant, not just something that is nice because God is holy and he's righteous and we love him and he says things that would encourage us and empower us. That's great. But it is absolutely significant, like a plane flying in the sky, gotta have some gas. It's important. A person jumping out of a plane, gotta have a parachute. That is definitely important.

So understand, this is not just important that God doesn't lie, it is absolutely necessary that he doesn't lie because he sustains everything. All things are through him, for him, and by him, Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 through 18 says. So there's no way anything could be sustained if God isn't telling the truth. Jesus Christ wouldn't have been here. His resurrection wouldn't be true. Our hope for living in heaven would be false. So understand, it is extremely important.

There's nothing inside of him that he has to fix to make sure he doesn't lie. It's like water. You jump in it, it's wet. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You go back a year later, it's still wet. God in his very nature is holy and righteous and knows everything. So there's no possibility that he could ever tell a lie. You come to him a thousand years later, same Bible, same thing because it's not going to change because there's nothing to fix because it's the truth.

So understand, when it comes to this journey in life, we can rest on someone who is saying it's impossible for him to tell a lie. This is where we're going back into Romans chapter 4 verse 18. We're going back into this process of talking about why we can expect God to do what he says. We can expect it. Whether it takes a hundred years, whether it takes whatever, we can expect him. Whether it's only going to happen in heaven, we can expect him.

God, when he speaks, Abraham is saying when he spoke to me, I expect him to do what he said because he said it. The word "spoken" here is a perfect tense. It means that the action is complete. There's no time or anything that would ever change this action that is complete. So when he says "spoken," it means that everything he is saying is done. Nobody needs to complete it because it's done. It's a completed act that will take place. There's nothing you need to do anything about it.

So Abraham is saying whatever God has said to me, I so trust everything he has said that even though my wife is 75 years old and I'm 99 years old and the possibility of a nation is pretty bleak from human logic, that's why it's against all hope, I can still believe in this because I see the evidence of how God has operated in the past. And because I see the evidence of God's capabilities and abilities in the past, I could know that what he's saying he's going to do because even when I lied and said my wife is my sister and Pharaoh took her, Pharaoh couldn't touch her because what he said he's going to do it and nobody could change it because he said it.

And understand this, attached to the word "logos." In the beginning was the word and the word was with God. This word "logos," not "rhema." Rhema is a word, logos is everything he said. So when we come to this word "logos," the word literally means when a person speaks they have a power to do what they said. So no matter what they said, nothing could change because we're technically walking into what is going to happen because it's already happened in his mind, so it's already in place and we're just walking in to experience it in time and space.

So he can tell us how Christ would die. He can describe the whole thing in Isaiah. He can tell us he's going to be beaten, how all the stuff is going to happen to him. He can tell us where Christ will be born. He can say all these things in the Old Testament and guess what? It happened exactly like that. No matter how man decided what he wanted to do, how man put it to self together, made his wise decisions as he felt he needed to make, no matter how much Greek philosophy existed where people felt that they were brilliant in their minds and they understand the concepts of the stars and they can do more research and learn medical things to help people in their illnesses.

And they think they were smart to write books and all these different things and had followers behind them leading up to times like Socrates and Plato, all these different things, they still in their wise decisions in their mind still could not ex out what God was already planning to do in Christ's death. Judas couldn't change anything. Peter couldn't change anything. The Sanhedrin, they in their own free will did what they did and it still accomplished what God wanted it to do.

So understand when it's spoken, it's a done deal. People still have their free will to do whatever they want to do but they can't change the results that God is going to bring because he's factored it all in. In his sovereign will he has factored in every decision somebody has made, every situation that is going to take place, every problem geographically that can happen, he has factored it all in when he made the plans to get things done.

So when God tells us when we read the Bible and he tells us what he's going to do, we could walk around like Abraham with the confident expectation that God is going to do it, whether it seems impossible or not because what's impossible with man is possible with God. He can get it done. That's why the Bible is saying, watch the words in this verse carefully. He says, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations." Not only is he saying God's word spoken, he's also using this word "might."

God can bring about into existence something out of nothing. So his wife is barren at 75. Medical stuff says impossible, it's against hope. But because of God's might, he doesn't need for her to be 30-something, 20-something because in his might he could make what he said he's going to do happen because he has the might to make it happen. Christ decided to humble himself and come under the Father. So guess what he did? He gave him a name because he's under his Father's authority.

When he's born, "I must be about my Father's business. I must be about my Father's business. I must submit to my Father and do what he says." Father, he goes to pray to him. "Father, would you let this cup pass from me?" Even though he and God are one, same nature. Jesus Christ on earth could walk on water. People that are dead four days he could bring them back to life. He could tell you where the fish is to go throw your net. He's operating like God even though he's fully man.

But he still chose to humble himself under the Father because of the name he showed that he had authority by giving him a name. That's why he told Moses, "I am who I am." I can bring something into existence without needing anything to help me bring it into existence and I can keep it going forever. Christ finished up the conversation by saying, "I am the good shepherd. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the door." So he finished up the sentence that God started in the Old Testament.

So anytime God says something, no matter if the situation doesn't change, no matter how complex it may seem and I don't see how this is going to work out, it's against hope, I can still confidently expect God to do what he says he's going to do because what he spoken he has the might to do it because he's God. It doesn't matter how difficult the journey may seem. I can believe. I can have hope. I can trust in what God says because it's impossible for him to lie.

So many times in my life I just want God to speed up. I want to see a change. I can never forget watching my mom one day and struggling with cancer and I just wanted all this stuff to get fixed. Good woman, God, she's been this, I go down my list. God is saying, "No, you just stay the journey." And I've learned in life more from the journey than from the problem being fixed. And let the problem drive me to him in the journey because in that process I learn more about him and I have greater hope. I can hope in him.

You've got a great reason to hope, so make sure this is the truth that you believe. You didn't just grab a verse and run with it because of what you want from it. So when you stand on it, the Spirit of God ignites your life because he's the spirit of truth. He empowers you because he came to guide you in the truth and you can face tomorrow with strength and a great expectation, confidence in God, because the Spirit of God empowered you to stand. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you Reverend Cannings. It's true, rest is not necessarily a passive word in this context, but rather a settling into the hands of an almighty, all-powerful, all-loving God. Now if this message has been a blessing to you and you'd like to obtain a copy for yourself or a loved one, then please reach out to us online at PowerWalkMinistries.org. That's PowerWalkMinistries.org. You're welcome to call us as well at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402.

Dr. Paul Cannings: A few years ago, some friends of mine came to me and challenged me to start Power Walk. And by faith we stepped out. Yes, folks, God has grown it, he's developed it because of the sacrifices we are willing to make. But in the midst of it we recognize it costs and we would be good for us to develop partners who would share in this ministry so that it reaches the potential God has for it.

And we'd love for you to look at our website, www.PowerWalkMinistries.org. See all the things that we're seeking to do for the glory of God. Become our partner and be a part of what God is doing. I know God will bless you for your sacrifice.

Guest (Male): Once again our web address is PowerWalkMinistries.org. Our mailing address is PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 772092. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow and the rest of this week as Reverend Cannings continues teaching on the series Don't Run Aimlessly. In the meantime, think about the vast evidence in scripture that God is all-powerful. He can do anything we ask but sometimes he waits for us to trust him and rest in his word.