Living Hope Fellowship Church...Sermons From the Pastor

CHOOSE YE
by Pastor Kevin Badgley

Thank God for the Word of God! There are some very interesting and convincing spirits, people, quotations, and things that move me greatly. However, I have to realize that if it isn't according to the Word of God, I have to reject it. This keeps me from getting into sin, and from being fooled. It keeps me from being cast down, and keeps me from losing my salvation. There are so many people who think they are saved, but they are not, because what they have is not lined up with the Word of God.

Many people think that they have gifts that they don't have. What they have does not line up with the Word, yet they just won't give it up because it is so glorious, heady, and intoxicating! If it doesn't line up with the Word, it is toilet water! It is used!

2 Corinthians 4:8 says, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;" Who? We! It doesn't matter how much trouble you are having; you are still not distressed (or I trust that you aren't). Perplexed means "not sure; puzzled." In other words, I'm not sure about this, or Help me with this, because I'm in confusion. After it says that we are perplexed, it says, ". . . but not in despair." We think, How is God going to do anything out of this? I don't know, but we are not in despair!

Verse 9 says, "Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;" I thought I was persecuted before I got saved! When the devil comes out he gets mad! He comes back and says, You belong to me! I say to him, You are a liar, I belong to Jesus. The devil said, I'll take you back. I said, You are a liar, you can't cross the blood, and I stuck my tongue out at him. I said, Go on and try, and he tried. He is pretty good at trying, I might add. Then I got filled with the Holy Ghost, and God told me it is not polite to stick your tongue out! I had to do some growing, you know. Then He said, HOWEVER, IT IS POLITE TO THROW HIM OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES! Isn't that neat that you can go to other people's houses, and you can throw the thief out of their house. Hallelujah! Cast the devil out! Jesus said in Mark 16:17, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;"

Now, look what he says again in 2 Corinthians 4:9, "Persecuted, but not forsaken. . . ." You may be persecuted, but you are not forsaken! God has an answer for everything. When somebody comes up and says that they are persecuted, you should say, Yes, but you aren't forsaken! Verse 9 goes on to say, ". . . cast down, but not destroyed."

Someone might say, Oh, I'm so troubled. Yes, but you aren't distressed. Yea, but I'm perplexed. Yes, but don't be in despair. But, I'm persecuted. Yes, but you aren't forsaken. But, I'm cast down. Yes, but you aren't destroyed. I mean it. God has an answer for everything, so if you are having a hard time, get over it, because you can choose which one you want! CHOOSE LIFE! If you have to fight it tooth and toe nail, then do so, but do it God's way!
When I got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, God led me down to a rose garden. We find lots of thorns there. Maybe you think that He should have laid you down in some hybrid without thorns. Look at this in verse 10: "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." That is something that a Christian does not want to do, look like he is dead. A true Christian looks like he is dead. As a matter of fact, he doesn't look like himself at all! Praise God! We choose life or death, and if a Christian has had a hard day, he can say, Well, devil, you are a liar and a loser, and the only thing that I am doing is getting closer to Jesus! Hallelujah, anyhow!

Verse 10, again, says, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. . . ." Do you know what that is? It is not doing what you want to do. It is not saying what you really want to say. It is not behaving like you would like to, or maybe have acted in the past, but rather behaving as Jesus would. What would Jesus do? What is He going to say? What would He think? Pretty soon it transforms you, and you don't think and act that way any more.

It is not under the law anymore, you just flat don't want to. You start out with "Thou shalt not. . . .", and pretty soon you get, I rejoice to do thy will, O God! It is not a conscience effort to quit, but it is an abomination to go again to it. Do you see the difference between being in the law and being in the Spirit? You will start out under the law, and do the best you can, but God will move you, and transform you, until pretty soon you will hate the old ways. Nobody will have to tell you not to think like that anymore, or talk like that anymore, or behave like that anymore; you will hate it.

For instance, if a child sticks his hand in the fire, you won't have to tell him not to do that again! Why? It hurts, it's destructive, and it will consume the rest of you if you leave it in there. You say, Son, don't touch the fire. He says, No problem! That is the way it is when the Lord begins to transform you. We are cast down, but we are not forsaken! We are troubled, but we are not distressed in the soul. We choose, and we behave accordingly.

Look at the last two verses in 2 Corinthians Chapter 4. Verse 17-18 says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

You say, Brother, you don't know what I am going through! Paul had stripes, imprisonments, and perils of false brethren. He was shipwrecked, stoned to death, and at one time he was beaten with rods. He said that that was light stuff, because he was further along. Compared to hell, these things are light afflictions. Compared to missing God, these are light afflictions. Paul said in Romans 8:18, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

We say that we are having trouble. OK. Hallelujah! Now keep going on. You say, You don't understand. I have to stop and savor my trouble. There is nobody in their right mind who has trouble who doesn't stop and savor it for a little while! You gather a group around you and say, Help me mourn. There are no melancholy spirits in heaven, just as there are no lying spirits, murder spirits, lust or unclean spirits, and other devils.

2 Corinthians 4:17 says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" You say, Oh, I have been having this trouble for years! You have never chosen anything else! You say, Oh, but I want something different. Do you act according to the Word of God, to get something different?

People are having trouble in their marriage or their business. Some are having trouble with co-workers, and some are having trouble with parents or children. Do you ever stop stoking the fire that causes it? Well, I have to get my say in. That is what is wrong! You get your say in, and God isn't any where near it! Well, I have to say my two cents worth. That is about what it is worth, even on today's market! You say, Look, it works for us. Some people say that it works knotholes. Trouble works us, drives us, moves us, perplexes us, and casts us down, doesn't it? It is an affliction.

However, 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" God has got something better, but it is on the other side, and we have to go through this to get to it. Verse 18 is a wake up call to the church: "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." A Christian has no business looking at a problem of things that are seen, other than to know what to pray for. It is like laying hands on something, and looking to see if it moved. This is the walk of a Christian. This is a reality check of the spirit. The world tells you that you are living in a dream world. No, I'm living by faith in God!

I believe God for things that don't have any evidence whatsoever, of existence in this realm yet! Yet! As a matter of fact, they never will, unless I continue to believe through all afflictions, and troubles, and trials until it becomes manifest. That is summed up in one word: FAITH! Things look bad, but faith can take you out of it and deliver you from it! Faith can cause that situation to work for good! You say, Brother Kevin, there are some things that absolutely, positively cannot and will not work for good. Romans 8:28 is not a lie! in It says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

When you leave the sinner's world, and come into Christ, God changes everything in your life. It may not be evident immediately, but He takes all the bad things that have happened, or are going on presently, and He turns them so that now they will not be a part of destroying you, but they are a part of bringing you out! This is a cannot lose situation! The enemy that you are fighting is defeated! God will not let him tempt you more than you are able to bear (see 1 Corinthians 10:13). He says that every thing that happens to you is working out for your good. If it doesn't happen fast enough to suit you, the Bible says in Romans 5:3-4, ". . . knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope:" James 1:4 says, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

What do we have to fear! Romans 8:31 says, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" You say, The devil is after me. Good! Good! If he runs up against you, and finds a place in you, then you needed to have it discovered! Job was perfect. You say, Oh, I don't want to be like Job! Look what all he endured! Yes, but look at all the things he got in the end! You say, Well, if that is what it takes to get it, I don't want it. You are a spiritual wimp. I'm a spiritual wimp. I don't like what I go through, and I haven't gone through anything compared to some Christians, but I trust God to bring me out. The devil is saying, Yeah, yeah, let me have him. Let me work on him! He works on every Christian.

Newsflash: You are not alone! You are not alone! God is with you! Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother! If you are saved, He will go through the fiery furnace with you! The three Hebrew children didn't know if God was going to put out the fire, or keep them from it, or transform or translate them, but they knew that they were not going to bend the knee to that gorgeous little idol the king built! The King got peeved like what you have never seen! His whole appearance changed, and he was full of fury! Daniel 3:19 says, "Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated."

Daniel 3:23 says, "And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace." Bound went the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, but they were believing God! In Verse 25 the king said, "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

Another newsflash! The greatest presence of God is not out in the air-conditioning; it is in the fire; it's in the trouble that you are walking through. It is in the valley of the shadow of death. It is when everything comes against you. It is when you are feeling forsaken, cast down, afflicted, and tormented, and you say, The devil is a liar! I believe God! Then God will come in that furnace, and He will bring you out. Why? Because he said he would!

Christians do not go by physical evidence. I'm going to heaven, but I haven't got a clue where my house is. I can't give you my address, but in due time I'm going there because of what Jesus did in my life. Yet, I have never seen it. I've seen a few things, but most of the things I believe for, I have never seen. The God that has graciously saved me, I have never seen.

People get discouraged and say, Well, now, I don't believe God is going to do it this way. I believe that he has changed. No, you have lost faith. The Bible says in Romans 14:23, ". . . for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." When you get unbelief, it is sin, and it will make a knothole in your heart. You will start saying, God is not performing miracles, and I believe that he is going to do it a different way.

God has not changed! Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Jesus said in Matthew 8:13, ". . . Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. . . ." If you cannot believe for it, you cannot have it, and you will not have it! The Word of God is infallible! It is perfect! There is no flaw whatsoever in it, and I believe God!
I believe God: (1) I believe that God has ordained that the church must go through a purging. This is a self-examination and a time of shaking. (2) Everything that can be shaken, including parts of your faith, will be shaken by whatever means it takes. (3) The church must get out of its current worldliness and come into holiness, and that there will be a great revival that will cover the earth, and all people will have an opportunity to pray through before the trumpet sounds. I'm going to be in it by the grace of God.

There is more trouble and worldliness in the church than there has ever been. Marriages are at an all time low. Trouble with kids is at an all time high. Drugs and murder are infiltrating our society. Lately the news told of people who were leaving live babies stuffed behind diaper displays in a store in Denver. They have found thirteen in just the last few weeks! Yet, they are slaughtering many, many more than that every day in any one given clinic! They are so unbalanced! The church world is so unbalanced! There is strife, and contention, and worry, and fear, and doubt, and unbelief. The God that I serve will not rapture any such trash as that!

The God I serve is a holy God! The God I serve is a powerful God! The God that I serve is a loving God, and He cannot fail! He will put us in the position where we don't fail! Am I there yet? NO. Will I get there? YES. Because my Bible said in Matthew 8:13, ". . . as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. . . ."

Jesus said that it is according to your faith. God says that everything He has is for us, but it is only on one condition, that we will believe. He says that it is all by promise. That means that it is not all manifest in the beginning. I do not believe for revival because I see it! I see more degradation in the church right now than I can read about in the Bible, yet I know that God is going to turn it around even if He has to flush out one batch, and bring in another. He is going to have a revival, and He is going to have a people out of a people who were no people! God said that He has always had a remnant. I am convinced that there are people who are genuinely saved! They don't have a devil in their left eye, and God in their right eye! I believe that there are people who are genuine, blood bought, Holy Ghost filled Christians! I believe that there is a remnant in this old world, and I believe that there is a pretty good number, more than we know about. Elijah thought he was alone, and he was pretty close to God. God told him that He had seven thousand that Elijah didn't even know about. I believe we have thousands. Leviticus 26:8 says, "And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword." What would thousands do? There would be plenty to cover the earth and deliver every soul if they would have it.

Folks, we are in the position of the greatest time of our lives, and the greatest time of mankind's existence. We can walk uprightly before the Lord, and God said that He would perform miracles. He says in Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Christians float along, and they call that being meek, but it is being ignorant. If you have no vision, then you are perishing. If you have no faith, you have nothing to look forward to. If you don't believe God, what are you expecting? Of course the devil is fighting you if you are a Christian. He wants to take you back. The devil will take you back faster than God will! God will check you out to see if you are sincere, but the devil doesn't care if you are sincere or not. It takes more to serve God than the devil. Any dead fish can flow downstream, but it takes one with a backbone to go upstream! I'm not talking about physical grit or determination; I'm taking about faith in God when you are being crucified. You cannot come against that. You have to let God work a work in your life, even if you hate it. Jesus was reviled, but He didn't revile again.

Romans 2:8-9 says, "But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;" People today are in anguish, and tribulation, and wrath. What is wrong? I'm born again! Things can come all to pieces around me, but they can't take away my Jesus! I'm washed in the blood! I know I am prayed through! I'm not bragging; I'm rejoicing in the Lord! I boast in the things which God has done in me. If I am a fool, I am a fool for Christ! It doesn't matter what is going on around you. It matters what is going on inside of you.

The Bible says in Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Other things are secondary. Look at the people who are "moved" by every wind of doctrine and by trouble. They are vexed and tormented, because they don't have faith. If you are losing your faith, you are letting your sword fall, and you are letting the devil steal from you!

In Acts 27 Paul was on a ship that had been many days in a storm. It was beating and banging on them. I often thought that was the worst place to be in a storm. At least there is some solid ground on the earth. I could crawl in hole, or cellar, or ditch, or something, but when you are out on the ocean there is nothing underneath and nothing over the top. I mean, you are totally at the mercy of what is going on around you. If you know Jesus, that is the best place to be!

The greatest miracles come out of total helplessness. The greatest miracles and the greatest revivals that have ever happened to a human soul (be it to an individual or to thousands) came from a position of total helplessness, and even hopelessness (except they had hope and faith in God).

Acts 27:20 says, "And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away." All hope was taken away.

No event in your life is happenstance. Paul, the greatest apostle of them all, was on board that ship. They were in the midst of a great storm. Lightening was flashing, the waves were rolling, and the swells were ten times greater than the ship that they were on. Out of all the people on board, not one of them believes God with you! All they care about is their own neck. All hope was then taken away. Paul had already told them what it would take to escape all of that, but they didn't listen.

Acts 27:21-22 says, "But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship."

Are you kidding? People get mad when they are going through trouble or problems, and you say, Don't worry about it, God will take care of it. They say, That just proves that you don't know what I am going through! I mean, they back up like they are going to hit you! They probably think, You poor, clueless, little preacher. You don't know! They get this body language like, You are soooo stupid!

Acts 27:11 says, "Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul." The captain of the ship had probably been on the sea longer than Paul had been alive. It was an expert that got them in trouble! It was because they didn't listen to the man of God. In Verse 22 Paul told them that they were going to lose the ship and everything on it, but they were not going to lose any man's life. By that time they knew that he was in a dream world. They knew that it had been too long since Paul had eaten, and evidently he had been without sleep a long time. That old, crazy preacher! They were probably thinking, That is probably the reason that we are having this trouble! That is what it is; we are having this trouble because of that crazy preacher on board. After all, I read the Bible where they had to throw Jonah out before they had a calm. Yeah, that is what is wrong; there is a preacher on board. He made them have a storm.

Paul said they weren't going to lose anybody. Look at Verse 23-25. It says, "For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve," Glory! [Now he is seeing things! There are people talking to him!] "Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."

Say it - I believe God! Are you in the midst of a storm? Say, I believe God. Does it look like it's getting worse instead of better? Say, I believe God. Are your kids harder headed now, and further away now, than they have ever been? I believe God. Are people not listening to anything that you say, but you know that it is according to the Word? I believe God. If it is according to the Word, you can believe God! Verse 25 says, "Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."

Do you know what He told me? He said in Luke 10:19, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." He shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly! He said in Matthew 8:13, ". . . and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. . . ."

Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, ". . . If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

He said in Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Hallelujah! These are things that He told me! He said in Mark 16:17-18: "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

What must you do to be saved? Acts 16:31: "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." The Word cannot fail! Stand on the Word unmoveable, and it cannot fail. Show me one person who stayed with God where one jot or tittle of the Word ever failed. I'm not talking about some one who is pussy footing around. I'm talking about holding fast, and being adamant; letting your face be like flint and holding fast to the Word of God; yielding to the Lord as He gives you power to do so. Never has it ever failed. Has everything come to pass yet? No, but it will, because I decree it in Jesus' name. I have acquainted myself with Him, and faith brings it to me. His Word says in Job 22:28, "Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee. . . ."

God did not put us through tribulation to form a new doctrine, like thinking that God doesn't do miracles anymore. When you quit believing, it is the same as calling God a liar. When you quit believing it is the same as giving up, and you are giving place to the devil. Romans 14:23 says, ". . . whatsoever is not of faith is sin." God doesn't want you in sin. If what you are believing for is according to the Word of God, and the way that you are going at it is according to the Word of God, then it cannot fail. You may be crucified; in fact, I can guarantee it, but you will also be resurrected in due season, in Christ.

Pray with me right now: Devil, you are a defeated liar. I'm not bending the knee to your wiles. I'm not listening to a lying tongue or a deceptive spirit. I will give it no place. I believe God that it shall be as it was told me. God told me in the Word that all the promises therein are "yea" and "Amen" to all them that believe.

Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief. Lord, these promises belong to me, and I will fight the devil until it comes to pass. I'll fight self, and selfish people, and whatever it takes to do God's will. Father in heaven, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the fact that it cannot be moved. We thank you, Lord, that it is compared to a sure foundation, a rock on which nothing can be moved. Lord, you said that you would shake everything that can be shaken, and we know that everything must be shaken to see if it will stand fast. Encourage this people that they are believing a Word and the Spirit of the living God that cannot fail. Consequently, we will not fail, as we hold fast to the horns of the altar and do things God's way. Lord, it shall come to pass if we doubt not in our hearts. We thank you and praise you for it. Let not any soul recreate their doctrine or change their faith, but rather, let them get back to their original first love when they believed God for everything as a child again. I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

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