Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today's Power Walk Ministries broadcast with author and speaker Reverend Paul Cannings. Our current series is titled "A Sincere Passion for Christ," in which Pastor Cannings takes us to John chapter 12 to urge us to consider our love for Jesus.

All of us sacrifice things that are important to us because of the object of our love, whether it's our own children, a spouse, or a friend, even a stranger. So where do we stand in our love and service for Christ? Challenging us to consider this, here's Pastor Cannings now with the message titled "Sacrifice." Let's listen.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Not too long ago, I was listening to a couple as their amount of children started to grow. They went from one child and now she's pregnant with a second child. They're sitting back thinking about all the adjustments they have made after the first child for her to be home when the second child is born.

They were thinking through the sacrifices they could make in terms of vehicles and where they would live and how they would save up money. What sacrifices they would make in terms of what they will not go out and do and the kind of vacations they went to, how they're going to taper that down. Listening to them process how they're going to build a great family together as a couple is amazing to see the level of sacrifices they were going to make because of the love of their children.

They weren't talking about each other. No, they were talking about how do we taper this down from a full-time job. This young lady had a good job, she had worked hard to gain a great education, she had developed a good career, and she says, "I've always wanted to be a great mom. Together, let's look at how we can make this work." The conversation listening to the couple was amazing.

I'm not saying that every person, in order to be a good mother, has to forsake their job. That's not what I'm implying because you've got a Proverbs 31 woman. The issue here is the level of sacrifice that both individuals were willing to make to build a great family. It wasn't a struggle, it wasn't stressful, it wasn't frustration. It was more of a collaborative effort, and the level of sacrifice was way not an issue. The sacrifices they were talking about making had one goal in mind: we are going to be great parents and build a good family.

That's passion, that's love. When love at its core is selfless. Love at its core doesn't boast about things. Love at its core doesn't keep a record of wrongs. Love at its core is so selfless, Jesus Christ would die on a cross because God so loved the world. Today many of us say we love God, but love to us has become a word influenced by Hollywood. "I love you," and then when the troubles in life and difficulties come and attitudes and personalities come along the way, people have different conversations all of a sudden.

What does love look like that leads to sincere worship? That's what we're going to continue to look at in John chapter 12, verse 3 today. We focused yesterday on verse 1 and verse 2, but today let's look at verse 3 and this worshipful love that is driven by passion that today we are struggling with as a Christian community. When I travel to places around the world, I'm amazed at what I see in terms of passion.

I'm going, "Wow, we have become privileged people in the States." Just let the grass grow a little bit too much when the church may be struggling financially and see who's willing to get their lawnmower, put it in the back of their truck and say, "We got this. Let's just get out here and mow this yard and edge it and take care of the flower garden." How many people would do that? No, people would not give and complain about the fact that it's like that. Where is our worshipful passion for God?

You find that in Mary in John chapter 12, verse 3. "Then took Mary." Please understand the word "then." Then took Mary. After Jesus Christ has come, Lazarus was woke up from the dead, four days in the grave. The Pharisees and the Sadducees cannot believe that he rose Lazarus from the dead after four days, so they're planning to kill him even worse. All of this has taken place.

Jesus Christ has been on this long journey. They came in, met Martha, dealt with the theological issues she had, resolved that he is the resurrection. The disciples have walked for two days. So after all of this is done and the meal is ready, there's no more fussing about Mary helping me with the meal. None of these things. Mary says, "Okay, you're taking care of Jesus. Lazarus is sitting next to him."

I'm still amazed at how he could get up from the grave four days and Lazarus is just... that's why the writer John, who's a person who loved Jesus Christ very much, would lean up against Christ and talk about the disciple who loved him. He probably is amazed. That's why he puts those two verses together there in verse 1 and 2, that Lazarus is there sitting next to him. You'd think he would be on the ground, "Oh Jesus, thank you very much." None of this stuff.

He said after all of this, then took Mary. Mary on her own initiative. Understand when a person sincerely loves, it's their own initiative. This couple sitting talking to me was just seeking to see if they could talk through how to approach this, since my wife and I did the same thing. Make sure they're not making a lot of mistakes, but they initiated the meeting. They initiated the conversation because of their love.

You don't have to tell a person to get up and go to church. You don't have to tell a person to serve God. You don't have to tell a person to give to God. You don't have to do any of these things when there's love involved. You tell people about a football game, their football team that they love. They are buying all the paraphernalia. They are going to the stadium, they're getting there early, they're going to fight the traffic, they're going to make sure to do tailgating.

They're going to get in there and make sure they get the best seats. They're going to buy seats and tickets at thousands of dollars, taking the initiative to put their money aside and do it. Love does not need to be pushed, driven or anything. Love is so deep in a person's heart they just look for an opportunity to do something towards the thing or the person they love. The passion of worship and love for God it has its own initiative.

Here's the next thing we find in this text. "And she took... Mary a pound of ointment, of spikenard, of very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus." Sounds very simple, but you've got to follow the verse about what he's saying because of the level of sacrifice that is being made. It never said that Mary, Martha and Lazarus were rich. It doesn't say that. You don't know how much they saved up. You don't know all the people that were trying to take care of Mary and if they brought money and she used that.

Sometimes people go, "Well, you know Jesus Christ keeps going to their house and they keep having food to cook." I don't know. The Bible doesn't say where they got this money from. But I know that there's a sacrifice being made here. It says she took a pound, sincere sacrifice. She's not just taking a little bit, she's taking a pound. And then John is going to make sure in case you missed that this is very costly, I'm going to say it's very costly. He didn't say costly, it is very costly.

Here's the next thing about a worshipful, passionate love for God that I pray we as believers will get back to. We say we love God. Where is the passion? Remember when David was talking to the priest and the guy says, "Hey David, let me buy the land for you." David says, "You're crazy? No, I'm going to buy the land. You tell me how much I need to pay for the land." David took hundreds of bulls up that mountain. Okay, not just I'm going to take this one, God knows I'm sincere because I bought the land myself. I didn't ask anybody to buy it.

David said, "No, I'm bringing all these animals up." Not animals along a flat road, up a mountain. And then, "David you can't build a temple." "All right, can't do it. Okay God, that's your decision. You know what? I'm going to get the blueprints. I'm going to make sure it's shipped from the best of the best of the best wood from all around the different parts of the world that I know, and I'm going to set it up so that all Solomon has to do is to put it together." Passion. Where's our passion?

If God was to tell us to sacrificially give, we sometimes give but it's not sacrificial. It's comfortable giving. We already have the 10% marked off on their bills. Suppose God was to say, "No, give 50%." Would we really do it? Would we make a sacrifice like this couple sitting with me? Would we sit back and figure out how we could do all of this so that we give way past 10%? Would we be willing to do that? Or would we think the preacher's this and the preacher's that and the church shouldn't be this and the church shouldn't be building this and the church shouldn't be going here?

Would we have all those criticisms rather than say, "God, does this sit with your agenda biblically? Yes. Okay God, what do I need to sacrifice to get this done?" That's passion. Watching people buy a shirt for a football team for $100, $200. Sit in a seat at the Super Bowl game, they're going to sit there and they're going to spend all this money to watch a team play a game, a bunch of millionaires.

I'll never forget somebody was kind to give me a ticket to go watch a Super Bowl game. I saw something that blew my mind. This guy was standing right in front of me. He had a brand new camera, and the guy says, "Sir, you can't take this in there." That guy got stuff out, took his backpack, dumped everything in the trash can and the brand new camera and walked in there. I stopped and I said, "Come on. For a football game!"

When we come to Christ, churches are struggling just to keep their doors open. Missionaries are out there with hardly any money to take care of their families and struggling to stay on the mission field. We say we love God. That's not love. Love is when the sacrifice is absolutely nothing because the sacrifice that Christ paid for us is priceless. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. What lengths are we willing to go to in order to show our love for God? Are we selfish or selfless in investing in the things that count for eternity? And if you're interested in finding out more about having a closer relationship with God and how Jesus plays a role in that, give us a call at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Our web address is powerwalkministries.org.

And while you're on our website, one tool that will help you grow in your love for God is Pastor Cannings' book, "Disciples in the Making: Discipling Believers from Spiritual Infancy to Spiritual Maturity."

Guest (Male): Dr. Cannings, for over 33 years, it began with him personally ministering to me in my home and then in our church, teaching me the basics of leadership and many other subjects. We took that information and began to make it applicable in our lives and the life of our church.

Soon after that, I began traveling with him around the world with Power Walk Ministry, helping other pastors globally to implement the principles that Power Walk Ministry stands for. So it's been beneficial to me and our ministry. As I've traveled again around the world with Dr. Cannings, we've seen the benefits in places like Rwanda, in places like St. Martin, the Bahamas Island. So again, Power Walk Ministry has been a great blessing to me, and I pray that it continues to be a blessing to many other ministries around the world.

Guest (Male): I am so excited about the conference coming up April the 23rd through the 25th. I really am ecstatic about it. Pastors have come together on a committee helped with the process moving forward. Excited about our first conference last year, but this conference this year's going to be greater.

There's like 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 the stagnation in the church, discipling leaders, dealing with how do 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, practicing these principles within their church. Come be a part of April the 23rd through the 25th. Go to powerwalkministries.org so that we could 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): Again, that's powerwalkministries.org where you'll find our ministry resources and how to contact us. If you'd prefer to write us, our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 777092. And as we close, let's remember the grace and mercy which Christ has extended to us and make sure we do our best in loving others and sharing the gospel with many who don't yet know Him.