Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): This is the Power Walk Ministries broadcast with author and speaker Pastor Paul Cannings. Thanks for joining us today as Pastor Cannings brings the final message in this series titled God Reigns Supreme, based on Psalm 86.

There we see David's complete trust and surrender of his situation to God. He acknowledges how great God is, being over all nations and not just his individual situation, challenging us to put our trust in this same supreme God. Pastor Cannings brings today's message, God, Our Only Hope. Let's go there now.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Nowhere in the scriptures does it ever say that we will have everything go right every day. The Bible doesn't promise us that nowhere. I mean, even when he took the people from slavery in Egypt, they went to a wilderness. A wilderness is not a pretty place. There's no running waters, restrooms, all these different things.

The outside issues that take place in this life, the Bible is saying he's not removing them, not all the time. He's not going to remove trials. Count them joy. What? He did say count them joy. I will discipline those whom I love, Hebrews chapter 12. Peter says we will be refined like pure gold, but in the process of it, as if God sees it as necessary.

The Bible says in First Peter chapter 4, don't be surprised when we experience trials. The trials and the issues of this life, he's saying in the last days, he describes in Matthew chapter 24, going to be worse and worse and worse and worse. There's going to be more storms, there's going to be more earthquakes, all these different things, pestilence, all of this is going to take place.

If we're looking for life to be where the outside gets to a serious normal where everything is blessed in the city, blessed in the fields, blessed when we come and when we go, our expectations of God are not true. What God is seeking to do is that in spite of what's going on on the outside, it doesn't turn the inside upside down.

What it does is it grows us on the inside so it doesn't matter what's going on on the outside anymore because we're anxious for nothing. We see that the sufferings of this present time don't compare to the glory to be revealed. We run the race that is set before us and we use Jesus Christ as an example, who counted it joy when he suffered.

The whole process of letting what's taking place on the outside, it is not to frustrate us. It's to grow us so that we could rejoice. And again, we say rejoice. In First Thessalonians, we could say, God, I thank you for everything. We could get to that point in our lives because we so believe that God is in control.

By and by, when the morning comes because he's Lord and we'll be looking at this all week. And we see this in Psalm 86 where David is, it seems like God is silent when the enemy is standing in front of him and they're better equipped. David is saying, hey, you seem silent right now.

He would repeat that same thing in early Psalms where he would say, God, why are you so silent? Why don't you say anything? Why are you so quiet? Lord, hear my cry. Listen to what I'm saying and respond to me. So David would cry out to God and beg God to respond.

In the midst of all of this, we study this week that David is going to still hold his confidence that he's Lord. His nature is good and his grace is sufficient and that he will always listen to our prayer. In verse six, in the day of my trouble, I will call upon thee because that's the only person I can call on. That's the only person I can trust.

He says there are lots of gods out there. There are lots of people who claim that there are a lot of gods, but I know how you work, God. That's what he was saying in verse eight, "Among the gods there is none like thee, oh Lord, neither are there any works like thy hands."

This complete trust, this complete surrender that David reiterates in this passage of scripture takes us to a time when we will be around, when the angel sounds and we are taken up into heaven, where Jesus Christ, as Revelation chapter four would say, he would come forth and he would reign.

When you get all the way to chapter 22, you would see Christ says all along I had this plan. This is the beautiful thing about walking with Christ, is you know the score at the end of the game. You know who's winning at the end of the game. It's a matter of getting on the field and playing the game because we already know who's going to win.

He tells us who he's going to win. But in that process, it seems like he's quiet. It seems like he's not functioning because all we have is the playbook on the field. All we have is the playbook and what the coach is telling us to do when we get out on the field. We know the score says we're going to win, but there's moments when it seems like they're winning, when Satan seems to have the upper hand.

But we know the word of God does not return void. We know that the word of God is a sword that could divide everything. So we know we're going to win even though we may have some penalties because we sin and we have to back that thing up in the five yards because we just mess up and we have to back it up to go forward. But we know we get back to the playbook and we move forward.

One day, this is what's going to happen in verse nine. When it's loud, when the trumpet is blowing, when the throne of God of Christ is established, when the war of Armageddon is done, when the thousand-year reign is in place, when that is even done and now we have the Gog and Magog war has cleaned up everything and now we have a new heavens and a new earth.

There's going to come a time when all of this comes to an end. That's why we have to run the race that is set before us. Don't become weary in well doing in due season. In due season, we will wear a crown in heaven because we, like Paul would say, I fought the good fight, I finished the course, laid up for me is a crown of righteousness in heaven because I kept the faith. The righteous will keep the faith.

The Bible would say this faithfulness would lead to many crowns, a crown that would happen as a crown of life because people made it through trials, made it through difficult times and they didn't give up. So you have James chapter 1, verse 12 would talk about this crown of life.

Same thing you see in Revelation chapter 3 where he was saying in verse 10 and 11, we see this crown of life that we will put on in heaven because in the midst of trials and difficulties and hardship, we still continue to press towards the mark of the high calling, holding to his word. He says, I got you.

But he says, if you chase this world and just chasing all the things in this world, it wouldn't take away your salvation. But in heaven, we're naked, wretched and poor like the Laodiceans in Revelation chapter 3. That's why today, even though it may seem like God is silent and we're praying and supplicating and crying out to him, in spite of all of this to take place, we can't lose sight of the victory dance.

We can't lose sight of the victory ahead. We can't because we got this hall of faith, I call it the hall of hope, in Hebrews chapter 11. Many scholars would call it the hall of faith, but I call it the hall of hope. They kept living for this expectation. Moses would give up all the riches because he expects this and he's running to the expectation.

Expectation is driving his commitment to the word of God because they believe the word of God is true. So that's why they call it the hall of faith. I call it what drives us first is that God is going to do what he said he's going to do, so I expect him to do it. So you have this hall of hope saying, hey, run this race, you got a cloud of witnesses, don't give up.

That's why the psalmist looking at how his life has turned out and yet he has to fight. He says in verse nine, "All nations whom thou hast made shall come." They don't have a choice. When they see you in all your glory, they will come and worship before thee, O Lord. He repeats, O Lord, again. And shall glorify your name. They will talk about how excellent you are.

Philippians chapter 2, verse 9, wherefore God also had highly exalted him and had given him a name which is above every name. Speaking of Christ who humbled himself and died on a cross. At the same of Jesus, every knee shall bow. Things in heaven and things on the earth, things under the earth. And that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

I love it the way the psalmist would put this in Psalm 8. "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou had ordained strength because of thine enemies and thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider the heavens and the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him?"

"For thou hast made him little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor and madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands and thou has put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, yea and beast of the field and the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth."

Verse 10 of Psalm 86 says, "For thou art great. Thou art God alone." Wait a minute, slow down your role. You've been saying Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, but he switches. I just think that's the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the writings of the psalm when he switches up and he says, "Thou art God alone."

David, many times when we look at what he's teaching here or we relate it to the New Testament, we could see Christ in it. But what he's saying is, David is in a polytheistic system, nations around him, Philistines, etc., worshipping all these other gods, but they have never been able to overcome David in the call and his anointing as he fought against them and subdued them so powerfully that Solomon had not one war to fight.

There were not enough kids growing up enough to even think to fight against Israel with all the might and the power that it ended up creating and all the wealth that came that God blessed Solomon with and therefore the mighty army would intimidate them. Therefore Solomon led a nation in peace because his father recognized God.

These all these gods are out there. They believe in them, they worship them. But when I'm out here, the Lord is my shield, he's my rock, he's my bulwark. I'm seeing you powerfully moving as I fight these wars. I see Goliath fall down. Your works are wondrous. When we trust God, depend on God like Psalm 86 is leading us to, that's when God, because we are now in the midst of the lion's den but we're still praising God, we're still giving him glory, we're still praying and supplicating to God.

He says what I will expose to you is who I am. Your only hope is in me and when you so rest in that hope in me, I start to show myself in ways that you would never seen before. One day by and by when you arrive in heaven and I said well done, you were faithful with a few things, now I'll bless you with more because you didn't become weary in well doing.

Stuff is not going to change on the outside all the time, but what God is saying is let it grow you up on the inside. No matter what you face in this life, you recognize that for me to live is Christ, to die is gain and that's all that matters. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. Amen. As hard as life may get, our present hardships are nothing compared to what God has in store for us. Now to learn more about Power Walk Ministries or to browse through our resources, log on to powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org. You're welcome to call us at 281-260-7402.

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 could we be productive despite the challenges ministries can experience? You go to powerwalkministries.org and you will get all the information you need. Look forward to seeing you.

Guest (Male): We're asking you to come alongside us to make a one-time or monthly donation to Power Walk. Your tax-deductible contributions will be used to keep this ministry on the air. So to get in touch with us, go online at powerwalkministries.org or call 281-260-7402.

You're welcome to write us at Power Walk Ministries, P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 77092. Thanks again for your partnership. 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 as we leave you, remember, let's choose to live in expectation, knowing that God is not only in control of our present situations, but he also promises an eternity with him in heaven for all who believe in him.