Get to Work

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today's Power Walk Ministries broadcast and our current series titled intentional. Reverend Paul Cannings brings us this teaching with a keen desire to help us become more passionate and fervent in our love for God and the fulfillment of God's great commission. In the book of Acts chapter 16 we see the life of Lydia and her commitment to God in using whatever resources she had to help Paul share the good news of the gospel, encouraging us to do likewise. Here's Pastor Cannings with today's message Get to Work.
Dr. Paul Cannings: You know many times people would tell me how dark the world is and I keep saying that's a blessing and they say what? It's not a blessing man it's getting worse. There is all kinds of evil taking place everywhere. I mean people dying from gunshots and from plagues and families are breaking up and people are turning against one another. Folks on jobs are ruthless. So what are you talking about? I say to them have you ever noticed that the light company never gets mad about darkness? They see it as a business opportunity. We are the salt and the light of the world. What are we complaining about? Get to work. Stop complaining. You said it's a sin to complain. Philippians chapter 2 says that. So the world is getting worse. What are we doing? Ah that's how we look at this woman named Lydia in Thyatira. This woman who made a difference because she recognized the difference that God made in her life. She respected it. She honored it. We need to be like this woman Lydia. He says in verse 15 let's read verse 14 and verse 15 as we continue to this woman's life and see how powerful her life was. It says and a certain woman named Lydia a seller of purple in the city of Thyatira which worshiped God heard us whose heart the Lord opened and she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized and her household she besought us saying if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and abide there. Let's spend time in the first part of this verse. He says and when she was baptized. We not going to get into this issue of baptism is baptism save you or not and all that stuff. You know baptism save you the guy on the cross never made it to heaven and Jesus lied because Jesus Christ said and obviously Jesus does not lie. So if he said to the man on the cross I'll see you in paradise and he didn't come down from the cross and baptize the guy and then take him back and put him back on the cross then obviously he went to paradise cuz Jesus doesn't lie. Okay? So we could debate that all day and get ourselves all worked up when the focus of salvation happened on the cross and at the garden when he rose from the dead. He took on sin and the penalty of sin is death. Adam sinned, Eve sinned, death. That's it. It took him a long time to die but they were spiritually dead. Jesus Christ came, rose from the dead. He is now overcome the power of sin because he rose from the dead. 500 people saw him after the resurrection. Now come on now if if 500 people saw you after the resurrection and you walked around for 40 days you have to be alive. To not believe that doesn't make any sense to me. Okay? There's not. Who was around when George Washington walked around on here? But you believe the history books and you believe he did. Who was here when Abraham Lincoln was here? Do you read the history books and you believe he was here? You see a big old statue of him in Washington and you believe that that statue represents the fact that he was here. Who's been living 400 years to know everything that has taken place but you read, you believe, you see the evidence and you accept it. That's because eyewitnesses have represented the evidence to you. We have eyewitnesses writing the Bible and it's represented the evidence to us. So why wouldn't you believe? Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin. He rose from the dead. So therefore there is no more sin he cannot forgive and there is no more possibility that sin could ever separate us from him which is death and cause us to not go to heaven. Done. See that powerful representation of what happened we couldn't do it. We couldn't do it. I had to pause for a minute and give a little salvation message there. Found you that cuz we couldn't do it. We couldn't do it. Abraham couldn't do it. Isaac couldn't do it. Moses couldn't do it. You name the person they can't do it because they were not fully God, fully man. They were not perfect and Jesus Christ walked around for 33 years and he did not sin once. So if he did not sin once he therefore was the best sacrificial lamb to go on the cross. That's been described back and forth in the Old Testament what kind of lamb will be killed in the temple and therefore the sins of the family especially on the day of atonement is forgiven because they brought the right kind of lamb. The lamb that's released into the wilderness Jesus came from the wilderness into Jerusalem and he died and there was nothing wrong with him as the lamb. None of that we could have done. It is by grace we have been saved, not by our works. It is a gift of God. So when we come and we see what is taking place here baptism simply is an identification, a public identification that I've now lined up my life with Jesus Christ. Why? Because you're going into the water and coming out. So it's a strong statement that we identify with him. You actually see this when the nation of Israel is coming through the Red Sea. One of the things that impressed Rahab was the fact that they came through the Red Sea and God swallowed up the most powerful army in the known world. But this nation is rescued on the other side of that sea. She heard that. There was a baptism took place. There was an identification that this nation has to be with this God and this God that this nation is with is a living God. He is alive and that's why this whole issue of baptism takes place cuz the person is getting out of the water and it is identifying that this God is alive. He didn't just die on the cross. He rose from the dead and that's why doing it in a city pool was huge in their day because you're making a statement in the midst of all these pagan gods that I now identify with Jesus the Christ, the son of the living God. This woman did that and when she did that she could have messed up her business. She going to Jews. Are they once all following Jesus the Christ? No. That's why Paul is there. And these are the Jews who were fighting Paul. The Jewish leaders were fighting Paul. He's in prison. He is beaten all these different things going to Rome because the Jewish people wanted to shut him up. So therefore she is dealing with the fact that her business could have been messed up. Her identification with the Jewish God in the midst of a pagan society in a polytheistic system that could have messed her up but she didn't care. See folks sometimes you wish you could take people in the middle of all their friends that they used to party with, all the friends that they used to hang out with and do all kinds of stuff and say listen bring them all here. Let us bring the things that you once worship, your car, your house, your job, your education, your achievements on your resume and let's just put it all here and let's say that Jesus now has a brand new life for you because that's what it's identified with. His resurrection is not just his death but his resurrection is a brand new life. Bible says when we get saved the Holy Spirit is poured into us and so do we now walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. So we are now no longer walking in the flesh. We're walking in the spirit and we know God is a spirit being. So how he best communes with us to be a friend is when we walk in the spirit cuz he's a spirit being. So there's a whole new life ahead of us. We got to renew our minds to understand it. So what we thought about money we got to change. We thought about marriage we got to change. What we thought about job and how we function on jobs has to change. How we talk about whether we go to church or not that has to change. She's never been to church. She been to the Jewish synagogue. All life has changed. It's a whole new life. You're a brand new creation. All things are passed away. Put off the old man, put on the new man. That's what this is all about. This baptism where people are looking at you going in the water and coming out. They want to know why is she doing that? That's Lydia, that rich business woman. What's going on with her? Let me tell you what's going on. It's a gospel message. It's a whole new life. See when we come to Christ is that transformation a true recognition of his death and resurrection? Are we just joining church? Are we just saying that now I'm a Christian? What does that mean to us? Because to this woman that baptism is an identification of a transformation that took place when she accepted Christ. It's an identification is a public situation where you could look at me and you know I'm going to live a different way because God when he came into my life transform me from an old creation to a new creation. And now everything you see from me is going to be a reflection of who Jesus Christ is. So I'm making this public identification and I'm doing it like a woman or a man wearing a wedding ring. Done in the church with a few witnesses or lots of witnesses but the rest of the world gets to know that this person is married. See that's what we talking about here. And this woman had no problems with the risk that it would have taken for her to move away from her paganism to identify with Christ and everything she did had to do with the fact that she truly accepted Jesus Christ. That's why the next thing she wanted to do is tell everybody by the fact that she is doing this publicly I am now identifying with this Jesus to Christ. Everything you see me do is about him and that's what we find right here. And then she says oh that's not enough. I'm going home to my household. That's what we see here in verse 15 and when she was baptized and her household in order for her to drag her household to the baptism guess what she had to do? Share the gospel. Now that's powerful statement because it takes a lot to get a rich person to Christ. The rich young ruler he's not about to give up his stuff. He said peace out to Christ and left. For this woman to say now I'm going home to my household and I'm going to share the gospel and I'm going to make this public confession and I'm going to be this person for Christ. That is awesome. That's why Jesus Christ opening up our heart saw that in her. When Christ looks inside of you and me what does he find? How do we act? Do we talk about our schedules? Do we talk about different things are happening in my life? No folks. You know sometimes I watch people when they're into their football teams and basketball teams and all these things and I look at these people movie stars have stunt actors and all these different people doing different things for them and we got red carpets and we are just worshiping them and all these wonderful things that they've achieved. I'm going what in the world? Why can't we have that same passion for God? I see people in cold places around this country take off their shirts, put stuff on top of their heads and root for their team in an open stadium in a frigid temperature. You can't get people to do that. They need people would even come to church if the temperature is frigid. If it snowed oh oh Lord it's just going to make it so difficult for me to go. Rain oh Lord it's so hot out there. Yes folks. The issue is where's our heart and are we intentional about how we serve God? Because of how intentionally he was when he served us. Stay focused.
Guest (Male): Thank you Pastor Cannings. It's easy to become consumed with our own problems or lose sight of the fact that as believers we're ambassadors for Christ while here on Earth. So let's commit to reordering our priorities by putting God's agenda above all else. For a copy of this message series log on to power walk ministries.org. That's power walk ministries.org or call us at 281 260 7402 and when you call be sure to ask about Pastor Cannings' book Making Your Vision a Reality. It will help you further contribute to fulfilling the vision for your local church. Once again the number is 281 260 7402 or log on to power walk ministries.org.
Guest (Male): Please save the date December 5th 2026 as Dr. Paul Cannings will be hosting a fundraiser luncheon. Dr. Tony Evans founder and president of the Urban Alternative will be our guest speaker. The luncheon will be at 11:00 a.m. at Crown Plaza in Shenandoah, Texas. Please visit us online at power walk ministries.org for reservation and further details. We hope you'll be with us this December 5th to join our host Pastor Paul Cannings at 11:00 a.m. for the luncheon and for a message from God's Word by Dr. Tony Evans. December 5th get your reservation power walk ministries.org. We hope to see you there. 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 as we just heard Christ was intent in how he served us. So let's be intent in fulfilling God 's purpose for us to be the salt and the light in this world.