Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for Power Walk with Reverend Paul Cannings. Today Pastor Cannings provides an overview of the church from Romans, specifically chapter 12, related to understanding what the body of Christ means and God's expectation for us within the local church, a place where we receive teaching and also serve as responsible members. Here is Dr. Cannings now with the message, Guaranteed Success.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Today people are searching for things that only God can provide. It doesn't matter which direction folks go in, whether it's deciding to find peace by exiting a relationship or deciding to experience joy and moments of happiness by entertaining themselves and finding great things to have fun with. At the end of the day, there's no long-lasting effect that can take place unless God makes that difference.

Because there's no way to enjoy the life that we want without life itself being the dominant force within us. It's impossible. We can enjoy living, but we can't enjoy life. God is life. Living is living. Folks can strike a great oil deal and get rich, but they can't buy life. Life is free. It comes as a result of growing spiritually, and it could only take place within the confines of a church. That's the only place God is saying it could take place. In Ephesians chapter 4, he says that in verse 12 through verse 13 and verse 16.

The only place a person can become all God wants them to be is within the local church. That's the family that develops them to be healthy. A child can be born and grow up to be an adult. But that person doesn't necessarily will be a healthy person until they're within a family that chooses to live a healthy and productive life. That's different than a person just being born and growing up. A person could get saved and make their choices about how they want to live their life and "I'm going to go to church, do what I got to do, but I'm going to walk with the Lord, I'm having my devotions at the house."

They could structure their own way of thinking how they can be better because now they've accepted Christ and they sincerely want to walk with him. But the Bible is saying outside of a family, they grow up abnormal. The relationship they would have with God is not going to be the same product they're hoping for unless they're in a church that is committed to the processes that God is talking about within His word.

It is a healthy family that raises a healthy child. It's a healthy church that raises a healthy person, not a perfect church, a healthy church. No family is perfect, no marriage is perfect, but it can be healthy in the sense that people can work through problems. It can be healthy in the sense that people are committed to the word of God and they're going to bring their emotions and their feelings and all this under the authority of God as they relate to one another.

They're going to be healthy in the sense that they will be honest and function with a level of integrity. It will be healthy in that they're committed to love one another and they're not going to let anything interfere in what is important in that process of committing to love one another. So there's several things that lead to health just like in our body, there's several things that lead to it being healthy.

So when we come to just talking about developing a relationship with God that is not just for now and for earth, but whatever we're doing for Christ does last, so it's for Christ and it's focus is what Paul is talking about here in the book of Romans. He's showing us collapses, but people who have life and how they don't collapse. They're productive and strong as a result of it because they're healthy.

So that's what he is getting to here because he has a clash of the titans in Romans. You have the Gentiles and the Jews clashing because the Jews feel that they have this relationship as a result of Abraham and it's special, and therefore all these Gentiles that are getting saved, there is no way that they can be on the same level as these Jews who are from the bosom of Abraham basically.

So you can't put the two together. Paul says, "No, no, you can't." Because in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 through verse 21, he's talking about the church now being one unit. It doesn't matter the color of a person, their financial background, or the level of education, none of these things. Because when they walk through the door, what matters is their spiritual gift. That's what Paul is saying. And if we could stop comparing ourselves at the level of our spiritual gift, because we don't determine what we will have as a spiritual gift.

We can't pray a gift into being. It's a sovereign decision by God, 1st Peter chapter 4, verse 10 through 11. It's a sovereign decision, 1st Corinthians chapter 12. So no matter what we decide we want to have as our spiritual gift, God knows how he's fitting his body together fitly, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 16. So since he's fitting it together fitly so it grows up to be healthy, everybody in it, he knows best what each person needs to have.

So there's no need, as Paul would say in Romans chapter 12, verse 3, for us to compare ourselves among ourselves. He would say the same thing in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10. In verse 12, he would say, "For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves, are not wise." Don't do this. He's saying not to do it.

And so when the people are coming, that's the next problem. They're committed to their spiritual gift, they're excited about their spiritual gift, but now they want to compare themselves to one another. So what you have is a dysfunctional body. And that's why he's saying, "This is how we develop a healthy family so that this healthy family produces healthy results, who therefore can enjoy the life of God that is within them, the Holy Spirit, and live a productive life no matter what comes."

Nothing can steal their joy because the fruit of the spirit is joy, not the fruit of things that is joy. It's not the fruit of what accomplishments I make in this life is joy. So no, the success by world standards is not success. That's not what God is talking about when he talks about success. Because success from a heavenly perspective never dies. Life and life abundantly, John chapter 10, verse 10, is developed when we slow down to make the only thing he's committed to viable.

The only thing that God is committed to is the church. We could pop in and do our service hour and a half or whatever we want to do and pop back out and do what we want to do. It doesn't mean that God is going to be pleased with that. He says that in Hebrews chapter 10. He says when you go to church, you have a responsibility to the believers around you. Let me read that in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25.

He says, "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as is the manner of some," because you had the Pharisees and Sadducees, all these priests that joined the church. So they don't believe that they need to go and submit to any leader there. They got it going on, and they come from this Jewish background. He says, "No, you can't forsake the church." He says, "continues in this verse," and he says in verse 25, "but exhorting one another, and so much more as ye see the day approaching."

In other words, it's getting worse, it's getting bad. And if people are going to live a successful life, they must be committed to making each other better by being engaged in their spiritual gift. So the local church becomes viable and therefore we become viable in how we serve the Lord effectively and how also we develop such a strong walk with the Lord God. It doesn't matter what the temperature is on the outside in the community and jobs and family, it's the temperature on the inside that matters most.

In verse 4, he says, "For as we have many members in one body and all the members have not the same office." Huge verse. He says, "as we have many members." In other words, we're not going to get them. This is something we already have in place and will remain in place this way because the body of the church is Christ. Christ is the body. I love the way 1st Corinthians chapter 12 puts it in verse 4 through verse 8.

He's saying, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are differences in administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities in operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." Key thing. Gifts are not the same. They're different. But the person who gives us that and leads that process is the Spirit of God, not the individual.

The person who guides that process since the church is His body is Christ. The person who develops the results and brings the results to fruition is God, because He's the one for whom all things are working so that we bring Him glory, Revelation chapter 4, verse 11. So he's saying the gifts are diverse. There's so many of them. But we have to stick with gifts and not make them talents because many people have great talents, but it is not their gift.

So he says, "We have many members in one body and all the members have not the same office." So there's three things that we need to pay attention to in this passage. Number one, it is diverse, but it's unifying. It's unifying. He's saying it is in one body. If the gifts make a body dysfunctional, they are not gifts. If a gift cause a body to be non-productive, somebody could be a great accountant, but when they come to the church, they don't have the gift of service when they're counting.

So there are the gift of administration. So even though they're a great accountant and they do a great job where they are, because they don't have the gift of administration and the gift of service, they make the church dysfunctional, not productive. It doesn't produce anything. That's the third aspect that we see here in Romans chapter 12, verse 4. "And all the members have not the same office."

They produce something. And their production is necessary in order for what God is seeking to direct the church to do can get done. The office of a pastoral ministry is to teach the people, give them direction, renew their minds because the Spirit came to transform their lives as they renew their minds. So as each person operates their office, it leads to productive results, and that's why the office is significant to the development of a believer for the glory of God.

So folks, the thing that we have to make productive, based on the direction of God and the administration of His work in our lives, is the spiritual gift because it gives the church diversity, but unity. And it causes the church to be productive because it makes the church very focused. So that we can grow up and learn to make the church a useful place because the church is the place where broken people come to be reset in their bones and where people who are maturing need to be properly equipped to benefit the body and represent Christ in the world. Let's stay focused.

Guest (Male): Hmm, that's so true, Dr. Cannings. The only thing God is committed to is the church, which is the body of Christ. I hope that He will find us faithful in contributing to its unity and its effectiveness for His glory.

Now if you're listening and have questions about what it means to be a Christian, then please give us a call. Our number is 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. For a copy of this message series or any of our other ministry resources, be sure to visit us online at powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org. If you'd prefer to write us, our mailing address is PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 777092.

Dr. Paul Cannings: You know Power Walk Ministries seek to support itself by the books and the materials that God has blessed us to be able to minister to your life and to strengthen and equip you spiritually to be productive. And that's the way we develop support for this ministry. We feel that if we touch your life, then that will lead to us touching other lives.

So go to our website at www.powerwalkministries.org and participate in our ministry. Because when you do so, it goes to serving other people, not just on radio, but around the world in conferences, in terms of equipping pastors and their wives, etc. So join us, partnership with us and be blessed at the same time by going to our website and becoming a part of our ministry.

Guest (Male): We'd love to hear from you. 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 to evaluate your approach to Christ. It is the body of Christ and Jesus is the head. May we take our responsibility in and through it seriously.