Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today’s Power Walk Ministries broadcast with Pastor Paul Cannings as he continues teaching from Deuteronomy chapter 12 on Living God's Way. Pastor Cannings breaks down for us the various aspects of God's command to the people of Israel. He challenges us also to apply this message to our own lives, beginning by developing a deep sense of respect for God's word, together with a change of attitude to idols in our lives. Here's Pastor Cannings now with that message.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Many times when my sons were heading out the door and they finally had arrived to a place where they were allowed to date—16, you have a job, you're able to drive, you've shown a level of responsibility with the car, a level of responsibility in coming home on curfew, a level of responsibility in terms of how you function with your money—and when you're doing those things as sons, then you are able to take on someone else's daughter.

So, I looked at them when they were walking out the door going to their first date, and I would say to them, "Listen, man. What is your name?" "Dad, what are you talking about? What's my name?" "What is your last name?" "It's Cannings." "Okay." I said, "Remember, everybody in this home is affected by the decisions you make. Everybody in my family—my brothers, my sisters, your cousins, your aunts, your uncles—everybody is affected by the decision that you make."

"You represent us, just like I go out of this house and I make sure that whenever I do does not provide for you a hard road for you to travel. So therefore, when you go out this door, return to us what we've given you. Go out the door remembering that. Remember the name." No different for us today as we walk in this life. The Bible says, "Whatever we do in word or in deed, we do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." I must walk worthy, Paul would say in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through 2.

And that is the focus of what God is talking about here in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 12. The context behind what is taking place here is the people were going into a land with many gods. The people weren't tearing down their gods; they believed in those gods, they trusted in those gods. That's why Rahab switched to go with Yahweh, because the gods that they were worshiping in the promised land were not as powerful as she had seen with this nation Israel.

When they're going in to tear these idols down, He's saying, "Tear them down," and watch this carefully, "and erase their names." In their day, when you go in and you tear down something attached to its name, you're now displacing that particular thing and you are trying to obliterate it from the face of the Earth. No reputation of it ever exists anymore. So that name is gone.

What God is trying to get them to understand is, "I have led you out of Egypt. I've taken care of you without a hospital. I've taken care of you without any grocery stores. I have sustained you and kept you." In chapter 8 of Deuteronomy, He says, "I put you out there to teach you, 'Man does not live by bread alone; man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"

"So since I have proven that to you, when I said you will have manna, you've had it. You've seen when I spoke about the snakes what happened. You've seen everybody for 40 years that I said would die has died. All of my words come to fruition exactly like I said it. So now that I have established to you that my word is great, is powerful, my word is truth, my word sustains no matter how long the time goes by, once I have now shown that to you, that is all that should matter."

That's what God wants to teach us first. When we come into His house to worship Him, to give Him honor and to respect, He's saying this is nothing about you. This is about the name of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He is the head of the church, the church of His body. You're not coming into a place where it's about your name. It's not establishing your reputation. You must deny yourself, pick up the cross, and follow me.

And the minute we start coming into the church setting and we want to bring in what we feel is important and we demand it—and nowhere in the Bible you can find it, nowhere in the Bible He is saying to institute it—but we want to do it because we believe that's a part of this church culture. We believe it's a part of what people in the church tend to gravitate to based on the research that is done in this community. We are then structuring the church based on what society says it is, not based on how He defines it.

We cannot go to church and tell God how He will be worshiped. We go to church to establish His name and tear down any idols that we may have. People many times come and they have to be a certain style of music, and if that certain style of music is not played, they can't worship God. It's not about you; it's about the lyrics. Whether it's a hymn, whether it's a praise song, whether it's a spiritual song, He defines that in Colossians chapter 3, verse 13 through verse 17. He defines those as the different structures that He has for music.

Whether it's my style of music or not my style of music, it's irrelevant. It's whether the lyrics fit into the category of hymn, praise song, spiritual song. That's when it satisfies the Lord God. People will come to church and it has to have the right color figuration because "I like these colors." We are telling God what we want in order for us to worship Christ. Christ is going, "No, when you come to me, you deny yourself, pick up the cross, and follow me." And that's why worship becomes uniquely for Him.

That's why in the nation of Israel coming in, He's saying, "This is the focus that leads me to call this worship." People say, "Well, I come to church, I just need to be out in an hour." Go to your job and tell them how many hours you would stay there and see how long they keep you. We will go to church and we want to get the church done in the time that we want it to be done, and we are on His clock for all of life. What are we rushing back to do that causes that to be more important than time invested into God?

We don't just come for a worship service; we come to serve, and the spiritual gift is for other people, not for ourselves. It's a gift to others, not a gift to us. So when we are serving God at a worship service, that's worship. He's demanding time because He has given time. He's given us six days. He's asking for just a few hours on a Sunday. You take seven days times 24 and then see how much time we gave to everything else: television, news channels, how much time we have given to movies, how much time we have given to the kids' games, how much time we have given to a job, how much time we have given to doing so many other things we need to do to relax and to find ourselves and all these different things.

And God says, "Give me time for Bible study. Give me time to worship," and we can't find the time. When you look at the book of Revelation and you start seeing the churches that He is threatening to leave, He's then saying that there are places I am not there. I'm not in places that don't commit to love one another. So the very first church that He's talking about is the church He just left, Ephesus, and He is telling them if you don't fix what I wrote about, then Christ would walk out the door. Great church in serving God, great preachers have come through and built upon this church and developed this church, but they had gotten to the point where when it comes to applying God's word to people that irritate them, they were falling short and He threatened to leave that church.

You keep going down these churches: church of Thyatira, going on the church of Smyrna, all these different churches, He is saying, "This is why I'm going to leave." So not every place that put a name on the marquee and develop a beautiful sanctuary and maybe thousands of people drive up to it, it means that Jesus Christ is there. He's not there because we say He's there. He's not there because the music is great. He's not there because the preacher is preaching the word of God. He's there because He said He's going to be there and He says this is how I'm going to be there: "Because my name must be established. My reputation, a memory of me. Everybody's coming to lift my name up because that's what draws all people to me." That's what the purpose of it is.

Until a worship service is focused that way, we're just at a building, we're not in church. Worship has everything to do with making sure His name is lifted based on how He defines that. That's why Paul, writing to the church in Colossians, would say, "Whatever you do in word or in deed, do it all to the name, to the glory of God." To the excellent nature of God. What represents who He is in His holiness, in His righteousness, in His perfection—represent that in your church settings. And when you do, then your worship service is crystallized properly.

Don't forget the church, He is the head of it. It's His body. He defines how it's structured. He defines what is in it. He defines how it's led. And that's why He says when you do that, in verse 5, He says, "Even unto his habitation shall he seek." Now I can seek the Lord for discipleship. Now I could seek the Lord in my giving to bless my family. Now I can seek the Lord to grow spiritually and to be nurtured so that I can understand the word of God because it's illuminated, the spirit of God is moving back and forth through the church healing people's marriages, healing people spiritually, healing people from sexual addictions, healing people, growing them. That's when you could now seek me.

There's no point in going to a place that does not establish my name and then seek me—I'm not there. What is the point of seeking me? The word seek means make an aggressive effort to put every thought into what it takes to experience me. It leads to me having a friendship with Him. That's what He says in John 15. It leads to having a friendship with Him where now He can lead me without having to make me do anything because I'm now deeply committed to who He is. And that's why He says, "And thither thou shalt come." It is to that place you come.

Don't go to any other place. Think about the comparison that's taking place here. There are idols on mountaintops, there are idols on the trees, there are idols all over the place. He's saying, compared to all these other places that they sought—and obviously I defeated all their gods—you now come to this place where I'm telling you I'm going to be, and that's the place you seek me, and that's the place I'm inviting you to.

So folks, understand that when we are worshiping God and we are seeking God, it's got to be a place that He says He is there. And He's given us the definitions of a church: Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, First, Second Timothy. They were deeply committed to God. People would punish them, talk bad about them, Satan would come up and do all kind of things to them, but they stayed focused in serving God, loving one another, carrying out His agenda, and they did it faithfully. And the Bible is saying that's the church. I'm going to take your names and I'm going to put it on the pillars for the temple that is going to come out of heaven forever and forever and forever. Your names will be written on the pillars in the temple because that's the place that represents my name.

I pray, folks, as we live out our lives and focus in our lives, that we worship God for His glory, for His honor. Then we could seek for our needs according to His riches in glory. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. Seeking God means making an aggressive effort into knowing Him better. So let's make every effort to seek Him wholeheartedly. For any ministry resources that you'd like, visit us at powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org, or call us at 281-260-7402.

Power Walk Ministries is excited to have the partnership with Central Baptist Church and Mars Hill Network for a conference we are doing on September the 19th at 8:30 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. The conference cost is minimal; it's $25 that includes lunch. We would love for you to be there and be a part of what God is going to do through this partnership with Central Baptist Church and Mars Hill Network and Power Walk Ministries. It will take place at Central Baptist Church. We would love for you to be there. We need for you to go to the Central Baptist Church website in their Syracuse area, or you could go to Power Walk Ministries website or Mars Hill's website, and there will be a link over for you to learn more about the classes that are being offered. We look forward to seeing you. It's going to be an exciting one-day conference where we all learn together for God's glory. Join us September the 19th at Central Baptist Church. See you there.

That's powerwalkministries.org. And when you contact us, ask about Pastor Cannings' book, "Disciples in the Making: Discipling Believers from Spiritual Infancy to Spiritual Maturity." It will help you take steps each day to mature in your faith, and that's available at powerwalkministries.org, or you can write us at Power Walk Ministries, PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. And as we leave you, remember to be mindful that our choices reflect not only our earthly families, but more importantly on God's name. As believers, we carry the name of Christ, so let's represent Him well.