Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Welcome to this broadcast of Power Walk. We’re excited to have you join us as Pastor Paul Cannings continues with volume two of the series, The Measure of Love. There is so much hate and anger and negativity that surrounds us, especially as we pick up in the media. Yet, how can we as believers counter these with acts of kindness, love, and encouragement? Pastor Cannings shares how that’s possible, that we can overcome evil with good. Let’s listen as he brings us the message, Love Is the Light.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Years ago, I was playing in the schoolyard and this person for whatever reason decided to pick on me. I was a little boy in elementary school, but I had a box to live in. What I mean by that is I had to deal with the fact that my dad and mom said if you get in a fight, we will spank you. That’s how it was. When you’re the seventh child in a family of eight, you see other people get whippings, so you learn that no, I’m not interested in that.

So, I’m in this box in the yard, and the guy is pushing me around and all this other stuff. I got sick of it after about the third day and I shoved him. Sure enough, it just happened to be where he just fell down, and this big bully is going to start crying and going on. Mr. Henry, the principal of the school, came towards me and said, "Come here. I want you to be here right now." So, I said okay.

Then he took me up to his office. When he took me up to his office, a few minutes later my dad came. I’m like, I’m dead. I just need to go to sleep and hope it all goes away. But while my dad walked in the room, I just sat down. Then I hear them talking and they’re saying, "These kids are getting bad these days. They’re making such bad decisions and they’re going on." When we were growing up? What do you mean when we were growing up? Okay, y’all know each other. That’s why this man stares at me many times when I’m in the play yard and that’s how he sees me so fast to bring me here.

He looked at my dad and said, "What do you want to do?" So, they got the paddle out and they whipped me. As I walked out the door, I knew it wasn't over. I said, man, I wasn’t in the wrong though. I just walked out and I knew right away that I’ve got to live with this. I didn’t like this guy pushing and shoving on me while I'm in this box. I didn't like when I broke the box that I got my bottom broke and then I have to go home and hear my mom fuss at me because you went to the principal's office. I hated that.

This all took place where I had to go back and manage that bully within the confines of my family structure the best I could, which means I had to look silly. What I mean by that is I’ve got to tell my principal or my teacher this guy is pushing on me. I don’t want to tell him that. I’ve got to tell my friends, "Hey man, hang out around me so this guy stops bugging me." I had to go through all of these different things to where the guy finally gets sick of getting reported on and telling me he’s going to see me after school. I have to go out the gate of the school as late as possible and try to get home. Then I have to deal with why you're home so late. What it taught me as I was growing up is how to manage in the midst of everything the structure that I had in place, and that structure that I have in place fought for me.

That’s the kind of situation that we’re dealing with here in the book of First John. It’s not a perfect structure. You’ve got secessionists, you’ve got Gnostic philosophers who believe they are as close to God as ever. You’ve got Docetism, they believe Jesus Christ is basically not fully God until the cross. You’ve got Cerinthianism. You’ve got all these different philosophies in the church. It’s creating tension in the church. You’ve got that in chapter two, the people who are walking out the way from the church because they don’t agree with this and don’t agree with that. You’ve got people who he has to talk about in chapter four, where he’s teaching them to still love. They’re still in this environment whereby God is still commanding them to be His child.

God knows that we have an enemy named Satan, and he is evil. He is wicked. He is a snake in the grass. He is constantly trying to divide. The Bible defines Satan by his names. He’s a slanderer. He is evil. He is wicked. He is a dragon, meaning he’s powerful and does things to destroy everything he could destroy: marriages, kids, lives, jobs. He destroys churches. That’s what he’s about. He’s divisive. You start seeing these things pop up when God cast him down from heaven trying to create a war in heaven in Revelation. God cast him out and then you see the snake in the grass come to light.

How evil and wicked he is and how he could deceive even people with all kinds of miracles that look very real. Even people that once had exposure to God. They’ve seen their family members gone to heaven. They’re no longer there, but he could still deceive them into thinking that he is the one they should worship and create a world religion. That’s how Satan can be deceptive and powerful and manifest all kinds of miracles. The Bible says in Second Corinthians chapter 11 he could be just like the shining star. He could imitate Jesus Christ so well to the point where people would think that the person is influenced by Christ when they’re not.

That’s how the Bible defines this person. It says that person, Satan, can influence people's lives to come against you in jobs, in churches, in your family life, in your marriage. He could keep doing that. You say, "Oh come on now, some of the people I’m around are believers." But you’ve got Ananias and Sapphira who purposely decided to lie and he says, "Satan has influenced you." You’ve got Peter who once said, "Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God," and the next thing you know, "Get behind me, Satan." So, Satan could influence people even when they have a commitment to Jesus Christ.

When we come to this, there has to be a fervent commitment to these principles we’re going to look at today and then we’re going to jump into chapter four tomorrow. He constantly keeps bringing up this thing "light" because light shows itself as we talked about in different manifestations when a person is in the light. Its core purpose is that it never shuts off. We define light as being the Word of God. We define light as something you must walk in. He must walk in the light as He’s in light, you have fellowship with one another. It must become a lifestyle, not just information in our heads.

The Word of God now becomes who we are in terms of our commitment to respond to it, surrender to it. Chapter two, we read that from verse three through verse five. It leads to love being perfected. That’s why chapter four of First John says perfect love casts out fear. I no longer have to worry about God doing this to me, God's going to get me this way or that way because I'm totally committed to do what He tells me to do. When He convicts me, I'm quick to surrender to do whatever He wants me to do. Therefore, there's no need for me to walk around fearful of God every day. No, I just have a reverent fear of Him, a reverent respect, an honor, an awe of Him, but I don't walk around scared of Him every day because I'm totally surrendered to do what He says.

That’s why it turns out that when I practice and get in the habit and have a character that demonstrates this walking, this pattern, this lifestyle, then I end up having love perfected that leads to that. That’s why this walking that now becomes this light doesn’t turn off. John is going to say you’ve now come to know Him. Even the people in Hebrews who went to a state of apostasy, it says you went to a state of apostasy in chapter six of the book of Hebrews because you have once tasted the Word of God. You have experienced it intimately. You knew it through the application and experience of the Word of God, so now you’ve tasted it.

What he’s saying by this light that we didn’t get to the last couple of days is that the person is so brilliantly manifesting the nature of Jesus Christ, it is impossible for them to go to darkness. That’s literally what he’s saying in this text. There is no way a person can end up in darkness because they are so much the nature of who Jesus Christ is. That’s why he says if a person loves the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind, meaning if a person decides to obey God. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. The word "keep" means when emotions get high, I’ve sinned, God forgive me. What do I need to do in this situation? I make that my devotion and grow in it.

My mind is wandering through things that are not pleasing to God. God forgive me, I need to capture those thoughts and bring them back onto the obedience to You. I’ll do that because I sense the Holy Spirit. A person who loves Me, when all the distractions are taking place in their life, they’ll come right back to doing what God tells them to do. You’ve got Abraham: "She’s my sister." When Pharaoh says she’s not your sister, Abraham says you got me. Let’s do this. I’m going to do what God tells me to do. He’s quick to go back to the direction that he needs to go back to because he’s committed to obey God.

When a person does that, they can’t come out without a verse. There’s no way they can come to a situation and not have a verse. When we look at verse 10 of First John chapter two, he says there is no occasion of stumbling in him. There's no way that this person could ever come to relationship issues and not figure out what to do about it. They stumble through it, meaning they don't really know what direction to do and they’re making a fool of themselves, just making bad decisions, doing things that create more confusion, become an encumbrance to somebody else. None of those things can happen when the person becomes like we just described. They don’t fall into the trap of sin. They don't fall into the trap of Satan. They don't stumble.

All these things are attached to this word "stumbling." When you turn to Second Peter chapter one, this is what he would say: a person who walks with God because he sees that everything is life and godliness through the Word of God, they develop a divine nature, verse four says. In verse nine through verse 11 it says: "But he that lacks these qualities because they don't have the divine nature is blind, cannot see afar off, and had forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. Never fall."

This is why love doesn't fail. Because there’s no way when a person gets to this point in their life that they stumble. Verse 11 says: "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly of the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ." The person can now live in a place where they never stumble. They demonstrate their nature in the worst scenarios that life could ever bring them where they’re hated. The person who powerfully manifests that is Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. He’s on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

You see, folks, if the worst scenarios around us cause us to hate, what it’s exposing is that we don’t love God. God is teaching us to draw near to me. Allow yourself to practice who I am and I will transform you. A person then exposes that they can love even an enemy. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. I challenge you today, go back to Him and He will give you the inner strength to love anybody. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. Jesus Himself exemplified the greatest act of love on the cross in the midst of the worst persecution. As we obey Him, we too will find the strength to love even those who have gravely wronged us. Now, friends, if you’d like to speak with someone about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then please give us a call at 281-260-7402. That’s 281-260-7402. Our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 77092.

Dr. Paul Cannings: A few years ago, some pastor friends of mine came to me and challenged me to start Power Walk. 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 it would 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. See all the things that we are 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): To order any of our ministry resources, including this series, The Measure of Love, log on to powerwalkministries.org. Again, that’s powerwalkministries.org. And now remember, when faced with hate or evil around us, we do not need to be overcome by it, but rather step back and draw from Christ’s strength in us to love and overcome evil with good.