Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Power Walk Ministries broadcast and thanks for tuning in today. We hope you'll join us for the entirety of the series, "Broken Not Defeated," which goes through the end of next week. A large part of why we see a breakdown in relationships can be attributed to pride. Humility goes a long way in healing, and it plays a major role in building healthy relationships. Highlighting this with parallels from the life of Joseph in Scripture, here's Pastor Paul Cannings now with the message titled, "Refresh."

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the negatives of relationships that's been around for a while is that it builds up history. One of the things I would say to couples as a standard thing in premarital counseling is to imagine the person that you're marrying is wearing a backpack. Every time we do something negative, it's a pebble in that backpack. Think about 20 years down the road. Could they carry that backpack? Think of the long-term effects and how heavy that backpack can get.

Some of us did not have that warning. The relationship was never formulated, and now kids are coming. Differences are raised in terms of how people deal with discipline issues. One person comes from a background where spanking is bad. Another person comes from a background where you better do that. All kinds of differences keep popping up because differences attract. God designed it that way. You can't do it any differently. No matter how we do the puzzle, it's all these pieces that are fitting together simply because they are differences.

God made relationships where people are different in order to create one picture of Christ and the church. Those differences, since the flesh is about strife and all these different things, as Galatians chapter 5 verses 16 through 19 tells us, end up putting pebbles, rocks, and stones in relationships. Sometimes people just land boulders onto people's backs, and they can't bear them. You have all of these different things that take place because backpacks are still on people's backs.

The Bible tells us to cast every care upon Him, but many times, no matter how we try it, it's too interwoven into bad experiences in our minds, in our hearts, and in our souls. That's what we find here with Joseph. The Bible literally says in verse 21 that when he was crying out to his brothers, the anguish was in his soul. Joseph was in the depths of his soul, in deep pain, that his brothers would leave him there to die and go back and lie to his father, who so loved him and Benjamin.

It's a dysfunctional family. You had a man marrying two women. One he was given in order for the father to keep him longer and manipulate him. Every time he serves the father of these two ladies, the flock gets bigger and everything goes great. The father is seeing the blessings of God on him and he's just manipulated the situation. It's turned around now to not love Leah as much as he loves Rachel.

So, you've got all these different problems taking place. Leah is constantly just trying to get her husband to love her, and that never worked. You've got a dysfunctional family with brothers growing up watching a very colorful coat put on their brother and not on them. You have all these rocks and pebbles being stored in there, and then a boulder hits. They leave him in a well to die.

God in His providence already saw it coming. He already planned it out and organized it. Ishmael and the Ishmaelites came by, and they took him smack to Egypt. That's what God had planned. God was still in control of everything, managing everything, no matter how chaotic it was. That's the first thing we need to see today when the pebbles, the rocks, and the boulders are upon us. God is calling us to resolve the issues that we're in because of the relationships that are there.

There are some deep issues in families. While He's calling us, He is still in control. He's still managing everything for the purpose, if we surrender, for a victory in our experience with God that can be a great testimony to other people. I understand there are massive boulders. Sometimes there is rape that takes place in families. There is incest. There is all kinds of physical abuse on children's lives.

Maybe this parent is now sick and the child feels an obligation to take care of this parent in a senior center who was ugly to them. God arranged it so the person gets saved, and now they feel it's necessary for them to take care of their parent even though the parent didn't love them. It's ugly. You can't fix this. Joseph is now having to face his brothers, not by his decision.

As I read yesterday in Genesis 41:51, Joseph believed that when he got married and had a child, Manasseh, he named him that to say he's forgetting all this mess. Not too long after that, his brothers show up. Why? God says, "You don't get to decide that. I decide that, Joseph." Because you're committed to My plan and My will, and you're willing to submit your life to My way, My kingdom purposes are now going to work their way through you. Joseph, you may have said that, but I determine when the story ends.

In verse 9 of Genesis chapter 42, Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them and said unto them, "You are spies." This is a critical thing in restoring relationships that God wants to reconcile. Here is what he says: "You are spies. You see the nakedness of the land." There are a lot of places where people would come in where they know they don't have watchtowers or enough soldiers to get to all these spots around the land, like immigration. You see the nakedness and you're coming in.

They said unto him, "Nay, my lord, but to buy food thy servants come." There is a lot of humility here. There is a chance. When relationships are going to be repaired, pride doesn't work. Arrogance doesn't work. Pride in the Bible is self-reliance. Pride in the Bible is simply saying, "I am not going to do what God says. I believe I can get it done without Him." That's all it is. It's choosing to rely on my ability, not God's ability. When I do that, it's pride.

That ability might be their capabilities on a job or how to run a house. They've been managing a job, and they can come home and manage a house. It's not that different in some issues, but very different in a lot of others. It could be a woman who comes into the marriage and believes they had a great example in their mom, but she was married to a different man, and there were issues.

When we come to this process, there must be a person who is willing to learn a new way, renew their mind, and transform their will to the will of God. If they're not willing to present their bodies as a living sacrifice and keep doing that every day, then there's pride. Joseph has to bring himself down. He is the man. He's riding around in a chariot. He's got soldiers next to him. He's got a signet ring.

God, because Joseph would not give up, worked everything out for his good. Joseph is now there. He's the man in charge. Kill him, lock him up. You don't see a court hearing. Lock them up. There's no court hearing. He just got locked up. Joseph is the man, but Joseph has to bring himself down under the will of God, and they have to bring themselves down under the authority that's before them in order to take care of the needs of an aging father that they need to help.

When humility comes into play, we've got a starting place. Humility comes into play when everybody brings themselves under the authority of God. If they can't bring themselves under the authority of what they see in front of them, at least the will of God says I need to come under this authority because God tells me to. That's difficult when you're on a job with an abusive boss. It's no different than Daniel.

You've got a story to learn with Daniel. Look at what Colossians 3:22-26 talks about regarding a boss that is abusive and how you deal with that. I'm bringing myself, as I walk through the job, under the authority of God. When I do that, the Bible says I am becoming a conqueror and I'm also being refined by God. The first thing we find in relationships coming to a point of reconciliation is humility.

Joseph is coming in here hard, and he has a reason to, because he has to establish the second thing. We find it in verse 11: "We are all one man's sons; we are true men; thy servants are no spies." What does he mean by true men? We are honest. We're not here doing anything. You have to see the contrast in the verse here. If we are coming in here as a part of a family, then we're not a part of an army. We're not coming in to spy; we're coming in for food because we're part of a family. A family needs food. An army needs to take over a nation that has the food when everybody else doesn't. We just want to get this food and take it back to our family. That's it. Give us a break.

Joseph is not about to give them a break because Joseph has to establish honesty. You keep telling me that you're honest. My experience is that you are not honest. You lied to a father. You told him his son was dead. You never looked for that son. You never did anything that's in your heart to say, "Dad, let's tell you the truth." Twenty years went by. You had 20 years to bring this issue up and never did. The fundamental thing that a relationship operates on is trust. What is this trust? How does it work? If a relationship does not have it, even in a relationship with Christ, trust Me. It's fundamental. Have faith in Me. It's important to establish trust. It's the foundation. Joseph is creating a refresh in his life when he thought he was finished with this.

The thing that we have to recognize is that when we get to heaven one day, all the people that we may not have gotten along with could become our neighbor. We might as well focus on the agenda of God because, whether or not we like it, that's what's going to be forever. I pray you stay focused.

Pastor Otis L. Cunningham: My name is Pastor Otis L. Cunningham. I'm the senior pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville, Texas. I tell you, this conference has been dynamic. I'm so energized and so encouraged by all the classes that we're taking. I just hate that I couldn't take them all. I thank God that me and my wife are here. She's taking some and I've taken some, and it is outstanding.

Herman Figueroa: My name is Herman Figueroa from Ocean Avenue Baptist Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. It's been an amazing experience here, far beyond my expectations. I've learned so much here. The teachers were deep in what they were saying. It's very useful material to go back to our church and not just to grow, but to find strategic ways of bringing 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 deacons 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 can 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): Once again, our web address is powerwalkministries.org. Our mailing address is PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 77092. And now remember, when relationships need repair, pride doesn't work. Instead, let's humble ourselves before God and He will give us a fresh perspective and a new start in our relationships.