Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Hello friend, welcome once again to this broadcast of Power Walk Ministries. This week, Pastor Cannings brings us this teaching on "Faith that Works," because faith is not only key to beginning a relationship with God, but it's also crucial to how we conduct the rest of our lives as believers.

No wonder scripture says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." Why is that so central, and how do we apply that to our lives? Through the passage in James chapter two, Pastor Cannings explains this in today's message titled "Wake Up."

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the things that keep me motivated as a pastor is that I don't want to have a church that is spiritually dead. You're spending all your time preaching to people who can't conceptualize nothing you're saying because they're not going to do anything different. That keeps me motivated, energized, constantly finding ways to develop disciples and mature people and grow people in His church.

One of the things that inspire me and drive me as a pastor is the fact that this structure that He's given for the church to be the church is not an option. It's something that is absolutely necessary. Like jumping out of a plane, it's really important you get a parachute. It's just part of the deal. It's not something that you question whether or not you need to have. If you're going to stay under water for a long time, some oxygen tanks would be very important.

Understand, when we come to this book of James, that's James' biggest push here. His biggest push is found here as we continue into verse 19. We're finally there. In verse 19, how do we as Christians not be useless before God? I understand people look at the material things of life and say, "I'm blessed, not stressed," and they've got all these things folks use. "I'm blessed in the city, I'm blessed in the field." We've got all these different things because we have money and jobs, the 401(k), and right now everybody in the family is doing well. What are you stressing us for?

That's exactly how the people in Israel when they got into the promised land started feeling, and eventually they ended up in exile. Is that a long-term thing? Everything that the world has to offer is short-term; it's not long-term. In the end result, where is that? I teach you today that when we come to this issue, whether or not we apply faith determines whether we're useless or dead before God.

Here is why he's saying that. Let's join me in verse 19. Let's read verse 18 to make sure that verse 19 finds its proper context. In verse 18 he says, "Yea, a man may say, 'Thou hast faith, and I have works.' Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." I'm going to show this to you, that this is how it works.

Just in case you don't buy that, look at verse 19. "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well. The devils also believe, and they tremble." But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? It is dead. That's why yesterday we talked the way we did. Yesterday I wanted to give a premise by the grace of God as to where we go today in our process of growing through this text.

Here's the first thing we have to look at when we come to this. He says, "Thou believest." Watch this carefully. This is the same Greek word for faith as the same word for belief. But the context determines which one of those you use. For instance, "Thomas, you believe because you see." Why would He say that? Because Thomas does believe because he sees. He sees the holes in His hand. He sees the holes in His side. He believes because he sees.

But faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things you can't see. "Moses, you believe in what your mom taught you rather than believing in what the Egyptians were saying to you." You choose to drop all the riches and the pleasures of this world and you headed out to go into 40 years of a wilderness because of what your mama taught you. You understood you losing all these benefits, the potential of running the most powerful nation in the known world, and go out and do what your mom wants you to do. It doesn't make any sense. No common sense to that.

"Wait until I'm Pharaoh, then I release the people." He says no, that's not the way to go. It's not supposed to be that way. This is the way God is going to release them. This is how he's got to do it. Moses had no problems. And he did that. When Moses did that, he says, "I'm looking for Christ to come." He had this picture of someone that is not going to come for thousands of years when he walked away from all of those riches. He couldn't see it, but he had faith that it would take place.

You tend to see this word faith used in that context and belief used when you could see it. They are saying, as Jews, you know there's one God. Your heritage tells you there's one God: Red Sea, walls of Jericho, manna falling from heaven, water coming out of dry rocks. You've seen Jesus Christ die on the cross, rose from the dead. Physically 500 people after the resurrection were there to see it. You got Peter and them standing up there preaching—3,000, 10,000, 15,000 people are coming to Christ and the church is blowing up.

You're seeing people come and Ananias and Sapphira coming and lying to Peter and dropping dead. You've seen these powerful acts of God where the man being healed that was lame because Peter would say, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk," and the man get up and walk. You have seen the powerful actions of God take place over and over again. When you run because of trials and difficulties from Jerusalem to where you are, there's no question in your mind there's one God. But you ran.

You ran into a whole another set of trials and problems and difficulties to where you are that make you want to have anger about it. I've got to talk to you about taking care of widows. I've got to talk to you to take care of orphans. I've got to talk about how they're treating the poor in church and when they get out of church in jobs. I've got to teach you how to not lust and be evil in how you function. But you had the knowledge base. You saw the power of God, but you ran out of trials into more trials.

Now that you're going through trials, you don't want to count them joy in the process of developing this inner character that blesses God and blesses your family. You've got evidence that there's God. You've visibly seen that. You believe that there's a God because you visibly saw it. There's no question about it. But he says they did well to believe that. That's a great start. That's why faith comes by hearing. It's a great start. But he says the devils also believe. He says the demons also believe.

If you look at how he's saying that, the same "believe" word he's using for the Christians who believe in one God. They have visibly seen God. They know where He is. They were in heaven. Satan has been around the holiness of God because he protected it. They have physically seen the manifestations of God on earth because they were made before man was made, made before the earth was made. There's no question that they have a deep conviction that God is God.

There's no question in their minds of the ability of God, the capacity of God to do whatever He's going to do. They have seen God create something out of nothing. They have seen God take care of the wilderness. They have seen the same manifestations of God, and they've seen it for a longer period of time than you have ever seen it. Do they go out and act on what they see? No. You're no better than being in the mindset of a demon. You say, "Okay, that's really pushing it."

Well, let me show you that I'm not. This is why a person can be so Christian, but their character could be so devilish. That's the worst person to have. That's why He blocked them from going back into the garden. They would have known good and evil, then they go pick from the tree of life and live forever knowing good and evil. That's the worst kind of thing. How could that be? Let's look at chapter three here in the book of James, and let's go down to verse 13 and look at it.

In verse 13 he says, "Who is a wise man with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy"—this is the character of a person who has the knowledge but don't apply it. This is how their character could be like in the church. "But if you have bitter jealousy and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth." Truth meaning spirit; the Spirit is a Spirit of truth. Don't act like the Spirit of God is operating in you; He's not.

He's saying the wisdom descendeth not from above, but it is earthly, sensual, and devilish. Satan can influence a person's life because he sees the person is choosing to have all this knowledge, but don't plan to apply it. They're going to keep going with their same attitudes, same mindset, act the way they used to act because all they want to do is get their fire insurance taken care of and go to heaven. As a result of that, they are technically not applying God's word to anything.

As a result, there's no character change in their life. It's like talking to a dead person. There's no sense to want to adjust their life. There's no sense to want to turn their life over to God. None of this. That's exactly what you saw with the Pharisees and Sadducees, scribes, Zealots, and high priests and elders. Because they turned off not just knowing the word but then going to do it, and not using it for their own power schemes and using it for their own welfare and twisting it so that they could stay in power and run things.

They turn around and kill Jesus Christ and put Him on a cross. He's saying you saw that. You saw them nail Jesus to the cross when they knew who He was. John chapter five, verse 39. He says people can be devilish. They're saved, but they're not committed to keep growing spiritually and become disciples of Jesus Christ. They are saved, but they are carnal Christians. First Corinthians, chapter three. They are saved, but they would rather live in the flesh and not in the Spirit.

I like how Luke puts it in Luke chapter eight. Look at verse 14: "And that which fell among the thorns are they, which when they have heard, go forth and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity." No fruit. They just keep sucking in knowledge, but there's no application. They're saved, but the life of God has no more impact. The best person that describes this is Hebrews chapter six when he says they've tasted, they've seen the word of God, but they bring no fruit to maturity.

As a result of that, they go into a state of apostasy. You see, that's why he's saying here in verse 19, "Demons tremble." They tremble because it's real. People go to church, they feel God. "Oh man, this is awesome worship service." But they're not doing anything. Eventually God has no more impact in their life the same way, because the wages of sin, the way they willfully turn against the will of God, they bring no fruit to maturity. They don't apply themselves through the trials.

What's for maturity? James chapter one, verse two through four. He's teaching us the trials would have produced maturity, but they run from it, so there's no fruit. Satan can influence their lives as they live a carnal Christian life because they choose to live by the flesh and not by the Spirit. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): That was Pastor Paul Cannings, reminding us that by just reading the Bible or listening to sermons in church, but failing to apply that to our lives, all we're doing is gathering information. Now, if you have questions about God, or how to please Him, or what faith in your life looks like, give us a call at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Or write us at P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092.

And when you contact us, ask about Pastor Cannings' book, "Give Fear a Knockout Punch." It provides strategies to enable us to overcome fears. You'll find this and all of our resources at powerwalkministries.org.

Dr. Paul Cannings: A few years ago, some friends of mine, pastor friends, 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'd be good for us to develop partners who would share in this ministry so that it reaches the potential God has for it.

We'd love for you to look at our website, www.powerwalkministries.org, to 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): Would you prayerfully consider this and call us at 281-260-7402 or log on to powerwalkministries.org? In the meantime, keep in mind, acquiring knowledge without living by faith will soon deteriorate into hardness of heart and pride. So let's truly wake up, take God at His word, and apply it to our lives.