Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today's Power Walk Ministries broadcast as Pastor Paul Cannings continues teaching from John chapter 12 on a series titled A Sincere Passion for Christ. When we're committed to a certain cause wholeheartedly, we refuse to get sidetracked by anything else. It's having that clear goal in mind that keeps us focused.

And now Pastor Cannings breaks down for us the events in the first few verses of this chapter to bring to our attention Mary's undeterred focus about Jesus. In today's message titled The Heart, Pastor Cannings.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Watching a couple prepare for a wedding and for marriage is always interesting. Many times, seeing a couple sincerely love each other, you can just see the time and energy they put into their relationship. Not just going to church and found a good person, but actually wanting to grow spiritually and putting in the time and effort to do so.

Watching them solve issues that popped up, either family-related issues or different backgrounds, different ways of thinking, all of those different experiences they've been through. All these things come up, so you've got to have good problem-solving skills. See the time investment that was put in. And then after almost two years of working through the development of their relationship, they put together their finances, they laid it all out, they structured it. No hidden agendas, no hidden costs to be revealed. All this was done.

Then the wedding day came, and I'm standing next to the groom. The groom stands there, and as he sees the bride, the door opens, everybody stands, and the bride shows up at the door. Tears came to his eyes. I honestly, in my mindset, felt those were real. He sincerely loves her. And it made the day special because the people, even his friends that turned and looked at him, knew he sincerely cared about her.

You could see his buddies and all these different things, and see the parents how proud they were of their son and daughter. That makes that occasion awesome. It makes the occasion where you're not nervous about where this is going to go. No, you're trying to address things as a building situation because all of the ingredients are working right because of the heart of the individuals.

The passion of the individuals first for Christ, not for each other first. Just to see their love for Christ and their excitement about how they ran into each other. Both persons love Jesus and love their families sincerely. They sincerely love their father and mother and their brothers and sisters. They sincerely love Christ and sincerely want to serve him. That's a passion that brought them together that day. You know this is going to be a great building relationship, as it has been for this couple, and you hope many couples will experience that.

Many times people get saved and they're excited. They've given their life to Christ, but then here come hiccups. People die. Things happen. Unfortunately, sometimes a child dies. That's the worst I've ever seen as a pastor. And the worst of the worst could also be one of the husband or wife passing. Hiccups come. Jobs are lost. Health issues pop up. All these things take place. Jobs want to move people. All these things happen that could put stress on that relationship.

But when it is sincere, couples for the sake of each other and the sake of their family, you find them demonstrating that source inside of them. You know right away if that source stays where it is, this is going to be just fine. It's not going to be a problem. This is going to be great if that source of love that is genuine stays inside of them. They'll make it forever.

When we look at this story of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Jesus at their house, he comes there frequently on his way down to Jerusalem. They've gotten a great relationship with Jesus Christ; they view him as a friend. But you've got different people listening to Jesus Christ here. You've got the disciples, as we discussed yesterday. You've got Judas, who's got different motives.

You've got Lazarus, you'd think he would be on the floor going, 'Jesus, thank you Jesus, give me that nard, girl, let me wash his feet.' That's what you would expect. You would expect, 'Come on now, a pound of nard? We need to get five pounds up in here.' That's kind of what I expected from Lazarus. Martha's got the kitchen going, and this time she's not going to complain about Mary. It doesn't seem like she needs to because it is when Jesus is eating that Mary goes to his feet.

You've got all of these different things taking place. Then you've got the Pharisees hunting him, trying to kill him, so he has to go from house to house because now they're really mad because he raised Lazarus from the dead after four days. They believed the spirit hovered over the body for three days; after the fourth day, no hope. Mary's losing her mind in chapter 11.

We see all these different dynamics taking place, and now it's time to eat. They just traveled for two days, so they're hungry. Mary, without anybody ever saying anything to her, Mary just does this. You don't just do this because Jesus is in your house, because he's been in their house and she hasn't done this before. Why this time? Her brother's been raised from the dead, and Jesus is going to die. He's been saying this so much that the Pharisees even know he's going to die.

Mary is listening to Jesus Christ. She's not just hearing him speak; she's listening. And no matter who is there, she got it. Of all the people, she got it. Martha didn't get it. Lazarus didn't get it. The disciples didn't get it. But Mary got it. Mary's saying, 'This may be the last time I see Jesus.' Mary didn't just take the nard and all this other stuff. It says right here in verse three, 'Then took Mary the pound of ointment of spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus.'

She anointed it. What does that mean? It didn't say she just put it on his feet so it smelled good. No, she anointed it. The fact that they wear sandals and they're on these sandy roads with bricks and rocks, apparently his feet got cut up. He's been on a two-day journey; he's been walking for two days. Mary didn't just go and put this ointment on his feet; she anointed it.

Remember the story about the Good Samaritan? He anointed the man with oil. The word anointing here means it's a healing type of ointment that when you put it on a wound, it helps it to heal. She's using that Greek word, not the word where Jesus Christ is the anointed one. That's a different word. She's using this anointing to heal his feet. She's saying, 'Jesus Christ, you've got a journey ahead of you. I'm putting this on your feet so you could finish up your journey. You're not here to stay, and I'm going to help you go.'

'I'm going to be saved by your death and resurrection, so I need you to go.' Many times when we gift to God, we want God to give back to us. Mary's saying, 'No, you're not going to give me back money for this. I don't care if you do. What I care is that you stay in the will of God and that you go to Jerusalem and you die so that I can be saved by your blood of Jesus Christ.'

Folks, this is what we focus on. Many times when we gift to God, it's about what God can give back to me. 'I'm going to press down, shake it around.' We are into all of that kind of stuff. 'If I don't give grudgingly and I give with a cheerful heart, he's going to bless me beyond measure.' No, give because of God's agenda. Give because missionaries are out there and they're struggling on the front lines to keep their support going.

Give because ministries like this are all around the world. Give because you are focused on making sure that when the church has needs of benevolence, when a family is sincerely hurting and the benevolent committee sees that it's genuine, that they will help that family. There are people in our community that are hungry. If I can help them, I'm doing evangelism. What is the agenda of God? Some churches are closing. How could churches close?

That's exactly what happened in places like Europe when the church stopped being passionate about God and committed to God. It died out. We have 300 churches or more per year in America closing their doors. We go to church without vision. We want to strap the pastor into doing things the way we want him to do them, and he must preach sermons we decide he preaches. When did we start owning time? We don't own time. When we pass away, time keeps ticking because we're dealing with an eternal God.

There's no one that owns time. One day is like a thousand years to him, as 2 Peter would say. When we look at this fact that we are constantly managing time and telling the church what to do and have no vision, we just want to make sure we stay in power and control this and control that. When are we committed to crack the Bible and say, 'God, what is your vision for your people? And how do we make sure that vision gets done? And no matter what the sacrifice is, we're going to sacrifice whatever it takes to get that vision done.'

That's what made a difference here in this story. Mary wasn't thinking about Mary, wasn't thinking about Lazarus, and wasn't thinking about Martha. She didn't care what the disciples said. That's what love does. Sincere love, true love, it cares about the agenda and doesn't care about themselves. Love, according to 1 Corinthians 13, is selfless. Mary is showing us she had a genuine, passionate love for God.

We are losing that. We come to church for church, not Christ. We read his word and try to live righteous lives because we want him to bless us, not be a blessing. We've lost our passion, folks. We serve him selfishly, not selflessly. She washed his feet with her hair. I challenge you today. Is there a passion for God? Or is there a passion for yourself, and that's why you say you love God? Stay focused.

Herman Figueroa: My name is Herman Figueroa, Ocean Avenue Baptist Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. It's been an amazing experience here, far beyond my expectations. I learned so much here. The teachers were deep in what they were saying. There was very useful material to go back to our church and find strategic ways not just to grow, but to bring other lost souls to Christ.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I am so excited about the conference coming up April 23rd through the 25th. I really am ecstatic about it. Pastors have come together on a committee to help with the process moving forward. I was excited about our first conference last year, but this conference this year is going to be greater. There are about 40 classes here.

Let me give you a taste: the pastor and deacon's functioning under the leadership of Christ, a biblical approach to resolving conflict in the church, traits of successful biblical leaders, cultivating a healthy and productive team environment, overcoming stagnation in the church, discipling leaders, and dealing with how we grow people and do evangelism at the same time despite all the difficulties churches are facing.

We can find a powerful, effective way forward. A lot of teachers are coming to teach. They're well-trained, well-educated, and practicing these principles within their church. Come be a part of it April 23rd through the 25th. Go to powerwalkministries.org so that we could move forward together for God's glory. Look forward to seeing you. You will not be in any way disappointed at this conference.

Guest (Male): And now as we leave you, remember, especially when serving Christ sincerely, we may be misunderstood or criticized by those around us, as Mary was in this passage. But take comfort and joy in knowing that God sees your heart. It truly is only about the heart. There could be a lot we say and do, but ultimately the Lord weighs the heart.

Friends, let's make every effort to love and serve God from a sincere and pure heart. Now for any of our ministry resources, please visit us at powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org, or call us at 281-260-7402. If you'd like to write us, our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 77092.

And when you reach out to us, I want to point your attention to a particularly useful tool which will help you take steps each day to develop your faith and grow in your love for God. It's Pastor Cannings' book, Disciples in the Making: Discipling Believers from Spiritual Infancy to Spiritual Maturity. That's available at powerwalkministries.org or when you call 281-260-7402.