Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Power Walk Ministries broadcast. We're thrilled that you've joined us today as Pastor Cannings continues teaching on the series, "It Takes a Village." The church is described in scripture as the body of Christ. There's a specific function for each and every part, and all are necessary for the well-being of the whole body. Today, through the role that Rhoda plays in Acts chapter 12, Pastor Cannings drives home the fact that God has a design and plan for every one of us, even if we think we're insignificant. Let's listen as he brings today's message titled, "Be Counted."

Dr. Paul Cannings: I'm amazed at the people that God would use. Many times it's influenced how I see ministry. Think about it for just a minute. Moses technically is a murderer. When you think of Paul, he was a part of stoning Stephen to death. Who would have ever thought that Rahab would be in the line of Christ? Rahab! A Moabite, when it comes to Ruth, would be in the line of Christ. Wait a minute, a Moabite? When you start thinking of even the people that Jesus Christ would allow to be in his heritage, it'll blow your mind as to who those persons would be.

Now, would you think for a minute that Jesus Christ would look at a person named Mary Magdalene, who had many demons, to go tell the disciples that he rose from the dead? No, come on now. He needs to find somebody of greater stature, greater resources, greater acclaim, but not somebody whose name is Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene had many demons. Who would want to be associated with this woman who had demons? Jesus would. He picked a tax collector to be a part of his disciples group.

See, Jesus Christ would pick the most unusual people to serve him, people you would never think would even be a part of writing the scriptures. John Mark, he ran off. So when you start thinking of these kinds of scenarios, it will blow your mind of who Jesus sought to use. This is why I am intrigued with this woman named Rhoda that we want to come back to in Acts chapter 12 and spend some time in verse 14, verse 15, and verse 16 talking about this young lady named Rhoda.

This slave girl at the gate who would answer the door for Mary, who was well-to-do because she had all these people packed into her house. Many times the leaders would be in her house. They would teach at her house and interact with her so much that her son became well-prepared for ministry, John Mark. You would see this taking place, you would say, "Okay, she goes and she speaks to Mary, and Mary now comes out and John Mark, and they now lead the process of getting Peter set up to communicate with the rest of the people so people would know what happened to Peter and get the true story." Some assumed that the Romans made up something. Herod is a crooked, evil, wicked murderer of a guy, very egotistical, definitely a person who believes he's a god and was brutal and evil. That's what you see the latter part of chapter 12.

So when we see this, they have to go tell them and make sure this is done. So you expect that the meeting would take place. They say, "Peter, oh thank you, Jesus, you've answered our prayer. Hallelujah, praise the Lord." All right, Rhoda's never even mentioned in the Bible. I mean, she's a slave girl. She just does this, and where else do you see Rhoda? You would think she's not even be mentioned, just say there's a slave girl at the gate. Many times in the scriptures you see that, the person is not even named. But in this scenario, Rhoda is named. Rhoda is named, and that means something.

So a lot of times when we come to ministry, we tend to think that we have to have this voice. We have to have this great oration when we speak, do these wonderful things. But people like Rhoda grab me, maybe because of what I saw my mom do. I saw my mom do things that touched and impacted my heart in service. I see my mom just going to church, small church in Duncanville, Texas. And I see her, she'd go to church there and she just doesn't like how, to her, my mom's very clean and tidy, she didn't like how the church was cleaned or not cleaned.

So my mom would influence my dad to take her to the church on Saturday and get an elder to open the door, and she would vacuum clean the entire church every week, not asked to do it, never been paid, cleaning bathrooms, toilets, everything, and making sure that when she went to church the church was decent enough to, in her mind, to worship the Lord God in holiness and cleanliness. She couldn't dare say she was worshipping her Lord in a place that she, to her, was just not being kept.

Maybe that's why I would stick with Rhoda. We need to stop looking at people who may have great orations, people who may bring a lot of money, people who may have a great education, and then determine how we serve or whether or not we should serve. That's not the case. At the point of salvation, God gave us a spiritual gift. Each person at the point of salvation received one. First Peter chapter 4, verses 10 through 11 says we all have a spiritual gift. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7 talks about we have this measure of grace, meaning the gift that is given to us. That's why in chapter 4 of the same book, Ephesians, verse 16, he says as each part does its work.

We are given a spiritual gift and we're not supposed to bury that. We will be held accountable in heaven if we bury that. That's why some people in heaven will wear white gowns because they were faithful in serving God. As a matter of fact, the Church of Laodicea, they would look at themselves and think they're all that because they got money and influence and all these big businesses. No, he said you are naked, wretched, and poor. When you come to heaven, you got no white gown, none of these things that you think you have because earth has awarded you that, that you're going to have in heaven. No, nothing.

So we tend to evaluate our success before God based on earthly processes, and we don't need to. We need to look at the spiritual gift that God has given us and be faithful to serve because when we get to heaven, those who faithfully serve and overcame all of the issues that life could throw at them and still faithfully served, still go to church, still do what God has called them to do in spite of all of the dangers that we now face, worrying about COVID, worrying about people not wearing masks who've been vaccinated, all these different things.

But God is telling me, "Do not neglect the assembling of ourselves together," in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23 to verse 26. So I must go because he told me not to neglect it. I'm going to go and then I'm going to find a way to serve because he's given me a spiritual gift and I'm going to be faithful. Those overcomers he's talking about in Revelation chapter 3, he will let them share his throne, share his throne! So we could look at a temporary process because we may not be as educated or we may not achieve these major accomplishments or we may not get all these accolades, but when we get to heaven, forever, forever, forever, God will let our work last.

He will give us a reward for all that we've done. Think of the Church of Philadelphia in Revelation. They were an insignificant church, small church, the synagogue of Satan more powerful, more productive. And he says, "I will put your names on the pillars," when he brings down the temple of God from heaven and lands it in Jerusalem. They will be there, this insignificant church that the synagogue of Satan, the Jewish people who were leaders and powerful, thought they were nothing. These are the people that will be named forever on these pillars in the church, which was something huge in their day as a sense of recognition. They will be blessed.

So we have to stop looking at all of these different things to determine how faithful we will be and just do what God has called us to do by the fact that he's given us a spiritual gift and not bury it. Here's the next thing we learn from this young lady. Please understand, it didn't matter where she fit into the equation of significant people. Peter doesn't go say, "Oh, Rhoda, hey, how are you doing?" None of this stuff. He comes in the gate and goes straight and talks to Mary.

She didn't care about that. At the end of the day, Peter's loose. Peter is out of there. Peter now could carry on the gospel. He could carry on this ministry, get things done. That's important. That's what it needs to be. The agenda of God must be the priority of our lives. It must be the thing that we focus on and let that be the agenda that dominates us. It's not what acclaim we receive because we have been in this group and look at this and look at that. No.

Think of the leaders in Jesus's day, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the high priests, the Sanhedrin all made up of all these great men of God. Where are they now? Where are they now? Some of them got saved later on, some of them didn't. So we could look at all of that and determine how we take a back seat to serving God and we could just say, "God, you gave me this spiritual gift, I'm going to use it." This gift of encouragement, I'm going to join the Comforting Care Ministry. I'm going to use my gift of intercession and join the Prayer Ministry.

Whether I can pray like the other person who could pray for long periods of time or I can just say a prayer that lasts 30 seconds, I'm still going to use my intercessory gift. I'm going to go home and take that list they have at the church and keep praying over it. I saw my mom kneel down at the end of the bed. I grew up seeing her and she had this little book and she read through that book and prayed over people all the time. The fun between her and I was, "Where's my name on that list?" and we go back and forth on that because we love to joke together. And she would pray over that list and pray over that list, and that was what she got up at 4:00 in the morning and prayed over.

Who knows my mom today? Who knows her name? In the church, she's sitting now with her husband. she wasn't singing. My mom was the most quiet person in the church, said few things. Who knew that she raised Lois Evans? Who knew that most of her kids would be serving God today all around the world? Who knew that? Your impact is something that God is developing. So the agenda of God is everything. Stop looking at who has the biggest agenda and start looking at what agenda he has for you.

And when somebody does something great, bless the name of God because it's expanding God's agenda. You see the same thing in Second Corinthians chapter 8. Why do these people give to Paul when they're in deep poverty? They said the grace of God has come to us and we are nothing. We are just a poor set of people that are in Macedonia doing what God tells us to do. But because God would come to these insignificant people and get us saved, and we were doomed for hell, we're going to do everything we can to support your ministry, Paul. Go on, tell the people.

When God is doing something great, we are blessed to participate in it. Whether we are given the acclaim on earth or not, God will bless us with a crown in heaven, a white gown, and we can share his throne. And that's why Paul would say, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." When we serve God, serve him like Rhoda. Stop evaluating our success based on what our position is or what acclaim we may have or how poor we may be, or in Rhoda's case, she is a slave girl sitting at the gate. But this young lady, she is magnifying God because Peter is released and the agenda of God that blessed her life could now bless others.

Folks, when we conclude this tomorrow, I want you to see how this attitude is what made a difference for the kingdom work of God as the church of Jerusalem would actually become very small. It went through much persecution and scattered everywhere, but it became the place, the hub, like he would tell them, from which the whole world has been blessed. So that we today go to church, listen to people on radio, television, read books because this little hub made a difference, despite the opposition, the difficulties, and the pain. It made a difference for the glory of God. That's why a village, the church, is this powerful organism. Whether it's small or great, whether it's in the best part of town or not, they could make a great difference for the kingdom of God because the person who is making the difference is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Let God use you, no matter how insignificant you may think you are. Thank you, Pastor Cannings. As we take the message of the gospel and seek to equip the body of Christ effectively, would you consider partnering with us both in prayer as well as through your financial support? To learn more about Power Walk Ministries, call us at 281-260-7402. Again, that's 281-260-7402. Here once again is Pastor Paul Cannings.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I am so excited about April the 23rd through the 25th because it is a conference with lots of notes, great teachers, well-educated, well-prepared, doing what they're teaching in their churches. You cannot miss this conference. Come April the 23rd through the 25th at Living Word Fellowship Church. Come and be blessed. The conference is the way forward, how could we be productive despite the challenges ministries can experience. You go to powerwalkministries.org and you will get all the information you need. Powerwalkministries.org. Look forward to seeing you.

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. We thank you for your prayerful and financial support. And now remember to stop evaluating your success based on status or riches or popularity, but allow God to develop your impact based on your faithfulness to him.