Respect

Guest (Male): This is the Power Walk Ministries broadcast with Reverend Paul Cannings. And we're so glad that you've joined us today. We begin a new series today titled, "Living God's Way." Throughout the Bible, God gives us specific and clear guidelines of what He expects of us. We see this in both the Old and New Testaments. Today, Pastor Cannings takes us to one passage in Deuteronomy Chapter 12, verses 4 through 7, challenging us to understand what God requires of us in worship. Let's listen as he brings us the first message in this series titled, "Respect."
Dr. Paul Cannings: In all the years I've been pastoring and in full-time ministry—it's a long time now, many years, decades—when I look at that, I start to look back on the fact that if you ever talk about money, people become fatigued or shut down or become just irritated by the whole process that you dare talk about money. It is interesting because the Bible talks about money. Jesus Christ would sit and watch the widow bring two mites to the temple and talks about her and makes sure His disciples observe the whole thing. The entire Bible is about giving from the time of Abel and Cain—the whole issue there. God is not running away from the issue of giving. Why? Because He is the giver of all of it. That's why giving is respect to God. It's an issue of respect. When it comes to this whole issue, and God is constantly providing to us every day—can't have tires without trees. Just think of any particular thing: wood that we build our homes with, concrete that we build our homes with. Just think of all of it; it's built on His resources. That's why David would write in Psalm 8, "What is man that you are mindful of him?" What makes You do all of this for man? Man could get a mosquito to bite him and he's gone. He's so fragile. What makes You so committed to man that You would send Jesus Christ on the cross? I like to add that to Psalm 8. You can't do that legitimately, but you add that into the New Testament structure. Why would we die for people who never sought God? The Bible says nobody seeks God, no, not one. If a person has a desire for God, He said it's because He puts it in their heart. In John Chapter 6, verse 44, He says, "I draw people to myself." And He saved us when we weren't even concerned about Him, didn't even care about what He is doing for our lives. We're just living every day, doing our thing every day on His resources. We didn't even bless the food many times. He gave us a chance to have eternal life, so that we're not even separated from Him when we take our last breath. Because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. How could somebody give this much? And when it comes time to talk about giving, we get so dismissive or upset, angry about the fact that we're talking about money again. It's interesting that we even need to. It should be such a glorious, cheerful, excited response to God that we have an opportunity to bless His kingdom work, especially within our churches. We should be glad for the opportunity, not be upset about it. In the Old Testament, they became so dismissive of giving that in Malachi, He said, "You're robbing me." Why is that? Because God determines our blessings based on this concept. Is it attached to living righteous? Yes. Is it attached to living wise? Yes. But it's also attached to this concept of stewardship. Let's just take a look at Luke Chapter 6, verse 38. Whatever you measure up to God, He will measure back to you. He said if a person lives righteous in Psalm 112, He will bless their family financially. It's right there in Psalm 112. He has no problems blessing us. Solomon, He blessed him. And that's what He talks about in Proverbs 24, verses 3 through 5. A person who chooses to live wise and a person who chooses to walk in a way that is worthy before God, God will bless his home with riches. If a person chooses to mistreat his wife, Malachi Chapter 3, verses 13 through 16, He will mess up his home financially. The Bible talks about all of this: how God leads to blessing people. God has no problems with blessing people. He has a problem when people choose to not respect Him for what He chooses to do for them. Just take the rich man who built barns and got all his stuff going on and the Bible says, "I will take from you." You will not even be able to enjoy it. Same thing in Proverbs, when a man was wealthy and rich, and he chose to live his life that way. Bible says when you die, you leave it to a fool because you didn't spend time raising these kids, these children. Then they spend it in a day. So if a person was to store up for themselves, 1st Timothy Chapter 6, verses 17 through 18, He says, "I don't mind blessing you. I don't mind making you wealthy. But when you do, be generous." Does that mean the person doesn't take care of their home? Earlier on in chapter 6 of 1st Timothy, He says you need to take care of your family and this is what you need to do for your family. The issue is when it comes time to give, people should be like the folks who are in Exodus 35. In Exodus 35, when God was saying, "Let's build the tabernacle," Moses had to stop them. That's what God is saying shows great appreciation: when He's given the opportunity to cause us to say thank you. You know, it's the attitude that's the issue. And that's what God is after. Because if there's no attitude attached to it that is reflective of our relationship with God, then we really don't respect God and therefore we do not worship God. Because fundamentally, worship is respect. Is giving God respect? They come out of the wilderness, "Build Me a tabernacle"—respect. They're going to the Promised Land; God blesses the man who chose to build Him a house by establishing with his throne a throne that would last forever: David. Because David was the only one who said, "You are the only person who decided to take this tabernacle and put it in a sanctuary. That is awesome." David said, "Oh, You're not going to let me build this sanctuary? I'm going to buy the land. I'm going to make sure nobody pays for the land. I'm going to pay for the land." "I'm going to put up the first altar. I'm going to give to that first altar out of my mind. And then I'm going to make sure every blueprint is set up. Every situation attached to all the material necessary for this temple to be built will be set. All Solomon has to do is put it together. You're not going to let me build it, but I'm going to do everything I need to do to tell You I appreciate You." "Because You are my rock, my shield, my balm in Gilead. I want to bless You, Lord." That is the attitude that shows respect. That shows a person sincerely appreciates the love that God has extended to them. And that's what God wants to teach them before they go into the Promised Land in Deuteronomy Chapter 12. We want to spend this week doing this because it's not so much about the money; it's about the attitude. And the attitude has to be around respect. If we can't have a respect for God, our relationship and our understanding of who He is, understanding of what He's done is off. This is what He says in Deuteronomy Chapter 12, verse 4. This is the first thing we learn. He says, "You shall not do so unto the Lord your God." What is He talking about? What we find He's talking about is in verse 2. He says, "You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods: upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree. And ye shall overthrow their altars and break down their pillars and burn their groves with fire and will hew down their graven images of their gods and destroy the names of them out of the place." What is He saying? He's saying, fundamentally, you shall not function like the Gentiles did in the Promised Land. You should not have other gods. Please remember that anything that is worshiped is a statutory thing: three things. Anything I give more time to than I would give to God. Anything that I would give more money to than I would give to God. Anything that I would serve more than I would serve for God. Let me make you upset for a minute. Some people, their political affiliation is more important than even their church. They would give more money to their political affiliation than they would give to the church. Because to them, that is a bigger issue. Biblically, that is not true. In Ephesians Chapter 1, verse 22 through verse 23, it literally says God will impact the world through the church. If we take the church for granted, the Bible would say we open up the gates of Hades to come and tear up the whole world. We are the salt and the light. The Bible would literally say to us that we need to understand that when it comes to the church, it is the only organism that God is going to work through. So if we don't take care of making sure that the church is productive and effective, He says if judgment does not begin at the household of God, there's no hope for the world. There's no hope. We're just like the nation of Israel. They made Saul, and what that politically means around the world, bigger than God's kingdom plan in His tabernacle, focusing on worshiping Him. And what did God say? "Okay, you're going to let that happen? Then I'm going to make this become an eyesore to you." And God says, "Oh, you choose to not make Me King. Okay, this is what's going to happen then." So understand, even when you look at scriptures, God had kings, kings, kings, but that was a choice of man. God's focus was on what His relationship with Israel, His covenant was with Israel. His covenant then shifted to Israel and the church. That is where His alliance is. So if we deflate the church, we empower Satan. He said the pillar of foundation for truth is in the church. It's not in any parties. It's not in any gods we build. People would be into cars, and they're into all their cars and spend lots of money on them and go to one car show after the next and miss church to get it done. People love their football games, their basketball games. They would bow down to their movie stars quicker than they would respect the leaders in their church. People have these gods and we make those idols. Some people, their idol is money. If they could make more money on Sunday getting time and a half, they're not going to church. There's some people who would miss church for the football game on Sunday and don't realize that they're going to another worship service. They go and they sing songs to their team. They sit there for hours but complain about anytime they've got to give to the church. That's their god. We don't realize that just the things that we give time to and money to and serve, that's the god. What does God ask for us to do? "Give to Me." What do I want? Time. When it comes to your money, I control how you manage that. When it comes to how you function in the church, your time, I control how you operate every day. Focus on whatever I do; whether in word or in deed, I give it all to God. What does it come to? Serve Me with your spiritual gift. Give to Me. Same system when it comes to God. So we cannot worship God because He is a jealous God. We have to understand that this whole concept of giving is about my respect for God. It's about how I have shaped my life to make sure that He is number one. That's the big deal between Abel and Cain. By the way I operate financially, I'm telling Him He's number one. So folks, I pray that we don't turn this off, we don't get all upset, we don't—no. Because the very first thing He would tell the nation of Israel to do when they came out of Egypt through the Red Sea was worship Me, bring your gifts to Me. And that is something that He demanded and eventually made a law. Stay focused.
Guest (Male): Amen, Pastor Cannings. We can be so conscientious about respecting our parents, elders, and those that hold certain titles. How much more should we respect and give honor to the Lord God? For a copy of this message series or any of our resources, log on to powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org. Or you can call us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402.
Dr. Paul Cannings: Hello everyone, this is Pastor Cannings. It's been a pleasure coming into your home, maybe your car. It's been a blessing to serve you. And I hope that you will become a partner as we seek to continue to serve God in an effective manner. Many times He opens up so many doors, but what we lack is resources to get it done. Oh, you can't go through every door, but you know the ones that are a great fit for our ministry to touch lives. So I pray that you would become a Power Walk partner as we Power Walk together to impact lives. Thank you for listening. It's been a blessing serving you.
Guest (Male): Once again, our web address is powerwalkministries.org. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 77092. And when you contact us, ask about Pastor Cannings' book, "Disciples in the Making." It's a guide that can also be purchased with a student handbook so that you can disciple others. And now remember, God's kingdom plan is to impact the world through the church. So let's prioritize our time, talents, and resources for His glory and our good.