Living Hope Fellowship Church...Sermons From the Pastor
WHERE
GOD IS
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
With all of man's difficulties and iniquities, I have often wondered how the church could appear without spot, or wrinkle, or blemish, so that it could appear as a chaste virgin before God. The Bible says that sin doesn't go to heaven, so if we have sin, we don't go!
How can we get to where we are without sin, and how can we get in the place that God has prepared for them that love Him? I believe that the church is in the last moments of it's existence on the planet earth. I believe that Jesus is about to come and take His Bride away. He is coming for a people who are sanctified and living victoriously, a people who are operating and living by faith.
Hebrews 10:38 says, "Now the just shall live by faith. . . ." A lot of days I don't know where certain things that I need might be coming from, but my Bible says if I'm believing God for them, I'm living by faith. That is just fine, because the just live by faith. God is not necessarily coming after the good looking, or the smart, or the rich or the poor. He is not coming after anyone with any particular racial background. He is coming after, "whosoever will". If you have a will to serve the Lord, He will give you power over the enemy.
Some people say, Well, I can't serve God! Now, that is a lie, and you know it, but if you say, I won't serve God, you are telling the truth. Revelations 21:6 says, ". . . I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Revelations 22:17 says, ". . . And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
"Will" means to act on with your own will by faith. Faith is what makes you do it. He says in Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." If you really want God, you are going to get God. You may say that you don't know enough, but you will if you keep seeking God, because He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him! If you are diligently seeking an answer to your problem in a way other than first the throne of God, you are missing the mark that God has for you. God has every answer that you need, whether small or great. Philippians 4:19 says, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." God is the answer, and we need to get closer to God to get our answers more quickly.
The Bible says in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Then it lets us know distinctly that the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us in Verse 14. Jesus became a witness in this realm continually that the power of God is real, and that you can have it if you want it. When Jesus ascended into heaven, the Word manifested in the flesh went away, but John 14:16-18 says, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."
That Comforter is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth. Whosoever believes God can be filled with that Spirit, and the power thereof, and be witnesses all over again to the things of Jesus! I declare to you that God wants His Word to be manifest in the flesh today! You may say that Jesus has gone to heaven, so that is not possible, but God says in His Word in several places that we are His witnesses. Isaiah 43:10 says, "Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen. . . ."
God desires to appear in the flesh, in you and me! God wants to be in your soul, and walk in your life and physical being. Through you He wants to manifest His love, and mercy, and anointing, and healing, and deliverance power in this world again. That is why He sent you the same Spirit Jesus had. Romans 8:11 says, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."
According to God's Word, Jesus did not use His Godhead power to perform one miracle. He used the power of the Holy Ghost given to a flesh, and blood, and bone man to do all the works of God. One thing that Jesus did that we cannot ever do is make the blood atonement for a perfect sacrifice for sins. However, we can apply that blood by faith in the name of Jesus! He also said in John 14:12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." That lets us know that He sent forth His Spirit so that you and I can do what He did!
The same gifts of the Spirit that operated in Christ's life can operate in yours and mine. God is desirous that they operate in every believer. If you will start yielding and be a "whosoever" that will, the Word will start being manifested in your flesh! If you don't like this then you had better watch where you are living, because the Bible says in I John 4:3, "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."
Jesus Christ has not ever, nor will He ever do anything contrary to the will
of the Father God in heaven. If He did, He would be a sinner. John 8:29 says,
"And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for
I do always those things that please him." He was so close to God that
He said in John 14:9, ". . . he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
. . ." Jesus was so close to God that when the anointing was on Him you
saw the Father. It was on Him perpetually, because the Spirit of God was moving
in Him. We can get in that place; then, whenever people look at us, they will
see Jesus, and not us.
Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself
for me." He wrote most of the New Testament by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Don't tell me that man wasn't full of God! He was previously a persecutor and
a blasphemer who took Christians off to jail. He was responsible for their deaths
in many occasions, and he held the coats of those who stoned Stephen. He was
a horrible man, but when God saved him and filled him with the Holy Ghost, he
turned into another man. If He can do it with Paul, He can do it with you, because
Jesus does not change!
1 Corinthians 10:11 says, "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Let's see what the will of Christ is concerning you and me. In John 17:24 Jesus said, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." Is He in the will of His Father when He says, "I will. . . ."? Of course He is. Jesus desired and prayed to the Father for His disciples and His people be with Him where He was. God did not refuse Him, because 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."
Many will tell you that to be with Jesus where He is, as He speaks about in John 17:24, the Rapture has to take place, or they die and go to heaven. However, let's look at it a little bit deeper! Verse 15 says, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." That leaves death and the Rapture out, in this particular case. He said that He didn't want God to take them out of the world. If He did there wouldn't be any witnesses here of His glory. He prayed that God would keep them from the evil that is in the world, so they wouldn't backslide and go to hell.
Jesus wants us where He is, but He doesn't want God to take us out of the world. Can God do anything? Jesus never prayed amiss, or with confusion. Therefore, we know that it was the will of God for us to stay here until He decides to take us away through death or the Rapture of the church. We also know that it is the will of God for us to be with Jesus where He is. Where is Jesus? The Bible says that He is sitting on the right hand of the Father making intercession for you and me.
I'm showing you today that the church of the Living God is far below the standard God intended for her to be. Just in this one chapter in the book of John, you will find that this is the appointment that God has given for the church. The Bride of Christ should look and act just like Christ! It should do whatever Christ wants done, because He does whatsoever the Father wants done. People need healing and deliverance, and God wants us to deliver them!
The work that Jesus, Himself, had to do on earth was done on the cross, and He said in John 19:30, ". . It is finished. . . ." He died on the cross, making a perfect atonement for all lost mankind. However, His work through us is ongoing. This dispensation is still going and will be until God takes it away! The same Spirit that dwelt in Jesus is still in the church and moving. He's not done yet! He is still casting out devils, He is still raising the dead, healing the sick, and doing whatsoever God wants done! If the church is not doing it, then we need to see what God would have us to do to get there!
How can we be with God, and be in this world at the same time?" Zechariah 4:6 says, ". . . Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." It is high time that we quit being a carnal church! It is high time that we quit being a fleshly thinking people, and start believing God, and acting like the spiritual children we are supposed to be! There are a lot of places I don't want to be when the trumpet sounds! There are a lot of things that I don't want to be doing when my heart stops. Some think, I will hurry up and do this, and I will hurry up and act that way, or say this or that, and God won't come, maybe, and eh . . . maybe I will ask for forgiveness later.
How can we be with Christ, and be walking in this world at the same time? If we are with Christ, and we are walking in this world at the same time, we won't care much for this world. You have to cast down the world in order to get into that place. Some say that they like the world because it soothes and comforts them. The problem is that at the time of the Rapture, you are going to stay in the world! James 4:4 says, ". . . whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
Look what Jesus says in John 14:2-3: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." You may think, Oh, there is the Rapture! Isn't that an answer to the prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17:24, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. . . ."?
Jesus is saying that He is going to make a "place" for them, and is going to send the Holy Ghost to give them power to get into that place. Then when they start yielding over to God, He is going to come and get them. He will receive them unto Himself, so that where He is, they may be also. He is not talking about after death, or about the Rapture. He is talking about right now! He is talking about being a witness for God. It is talking about Christ coming in our flesh, and moving in His Bride, His church again! It is evident that Jesus is rarely seen in His church today! He has prepared a place, and He has even sent the power to get there, but few go there.
This is the calling of God. John 12:26 says, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour." You now have these last three scripture references as witnesses. Praise the Lord.
Matthew 18:20 says, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." There is a difference between Spirit and Ghost. The Spirit moves like the wind across the broad area, and Ghost is a person! The Spirit of God could be moving through this atmosphere, but if the Spirit of God comes suddenly upon me, and I begin to speak to you, and say something to you, you are listening to Jesus.
I love to have Him around about me, but I want to see Him cast out devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead again! I want to see Him manifest in the flesh again, and the only flesh that He is going to manifest in is His Bride, and that is you and me! So, what are we doing? Let's get on with God!
John 12:26 says, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be. . . ." What do you think about the possibility that wherever Jesus is, there you are? Hallelujah! Look at it again! "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be. . . ." He is not talking about death or the Rapture there either! He is talking about sitting together with Jesus in heavenly places, out of this filthy, vile world, so that you will be able to cast out devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead!
I want it to be so that wherever Jesus goes, I'm stuck to Him. If He wants to go to India, I'm going. If He wants to go to the southern tip of Africa, that is where I want to be. If He has a word to say to somebody down there, I'm stuck to Him. Hallelujah! You talk about a ride, brother, we are going to ride on the high places of the earth! Jesus will use us to raise up the desolate! He has transformed us and translated us into the kingdom of God, and wherever Jesus is, there shall His servants be!
Do you see the potential that the church is missing? If He is in you, and you are doing the works of Christ, you are with Him where He is.
Think of this scenario: You need to get a hold of someone. Even if you would get his number, and even if you could call him, you might get his answering service. You could try to find him, but he is not home. He is not even at work. He is out in a corner somewhere crying, because he is too discouraged to look at another human being. He is out in the woods somewhere, and you can't get a hold of him. God knows that he is there. If you are in Christ in that "place", God could send you to that man supernaturally. Suddenly you could talk to him and let him know that God still loves him.
God sent Philip to give understanding to the Ethiopian eunuch. The person God sends you to could start believing that there is a God that cares! He will get his eyes off of people who just talk and have no signs to confirm what they say. However, when you say, I love you, and have helped him in the name of Jesus, and then - zoom, you are gone - he knows that you have been with Jesus!
People will resist the move of God to go higher. David's brother and others thought, Who is this kid, anyway? Who is this upstart? When you talk about a great move of the power of God people will say, He is talking about defeating the devil and bringing world wide revival. Who is this guy? Boy, isn't he in for a sorry awakening! Don't listen to them, because Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
I want to get the church of today in that place Jesus is talking about. He has already prepared it. He is a carpenter, and He already has the "place" built. Revelations 3:21 says, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
What about Hebrews 13:8? It says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." This body we walk around in gives us trouble, but we tell people that the devil did it! We make him our scapegoat. One may say, I'm saved, and I'm filled with the Holy Ghost, and I've got power over all the power of the enemy, but the devil did this to me.
Jesus 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."
You say, Well, he sneaks up on my blind side sometimes. God isn't blind from
any side! You say, Oh, I wish I had eyes on the back of my head! Can the devil
sneak up on God? Can the devil hit God when he isn't looking? Can the devil
hit somebody that is full of God? He can vex, and oppress, and attack, and try
to hound you, but if you stay in that thing, then I wonder if you have the Holy
Ghost! You say, Well, I'm weak.
The Bible says in Joel 3:10, ". . . let the weak say, I am strong." In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Jesus says, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. . . ." You say, Well, Paul had a thorn in the flesh. Yeah, and you look like a porcupine with thorns all in your flesh! If you didn't have so much flesh you wouldn't have a place to put a thorn! Galatians 5:16 says, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." I haven't had a soul ever tell me, in honesty and in truth, that he is doing all that he knows to do. When we are doing all that we know to do, then we will see the victory that we need to have.
Jesus said that there is a place for you and me. The cleft in the rock was made when they pierced His side. He said in Exodus 33:21-22, "And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:"
What about Matthew 5:8? It says, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." You say, Oh, it's talking about heaven. If you aren't going to be pure in heart until you get to heaven, you aren't going to get to heaven! "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God," means now, in this life, before you die, and before the Rapture comes.
Hebrews 11:1 talks about "Now faith". Your condition "now"
is what Jesus
preached about. The 66 books of the Bible are written for our admonition, that
we would not walk in the flesh anymore, but in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus
Christ! It is not easy, but it is going to be a blessing that is out of this
world, even as we live in this world. Jesus said that you are not of this world,
but you are in it.
In John 14:21 He said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." Is that only for preachers? No. He said in Mark 16:17, "And these signs shall follow them that believe. . . ." When you are first saved, you have faith to head for the greatest things God has for those who love him. You need to seek after more of God first, so you can get the baptism of the Holy Ghost. You can then kick it up in high gear, and have power over all the power of the enemy as Jesus said in Luke 10:19.
You are going to have stumblings, and failures, and you are going to have your wrestlings in the flesh, but quit blaming everything on the devil! The devil didn't do some things! You can't honestly say, The devil made me watch that filthy movie. The devil turned me away from my prayer time. The devil is taking all my money, and I can't tithe. Malachi 3:8 says, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings."
I want millions of dollars for God's work to touch the world until Jesus comes. Some say, Well, you are sure a big shot. Are you going to do it all by yourself? If I have to, I will. If you believe God, you will do it, without looking around to see who else is going to help you. I used to complain to God saying, God, I haven't got enough help. He told me not to worry about it, just do it anyway. He told me that I needed to get rid of that bump in the church driveway, so I took a sledgehammer and got rid of that whole thing. There was about 54 feet of it out there.
Sometimes God will give you a job that you don't want to do. I've cleaned the toilets before, and I'll flush them when somebody has left them unflushed. If you are ordained and commissioned to get something done for God, even if you are a preacher, do it! Whatever it takes to get the will of God done, from working on the driveway, to working on the congregation, you need to be doing it! You will be blessed, because you obeyed Him. If you believe God, you are going to serve God.
Colossians 3:1-2 says, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." God cannot, and will not look on you or me until Jesus Christ covers you with His blood. You cannot stand in God's presence until Christ is in you. You can't even get to God without Jesus, because He is our intercessor, and the only mediator between God and man.
Jesus desires that we go where He is, so we need to get there. He said in Colossians 3:4, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Again, I do not believe that this is talking about just the rapture or your death. Some quote Isaiah 42:8 which says, "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Isaiah 48:11 says, ". . . and I will not give my glory unto another." I believe that God will not share His glory with any man. However, the glory of Christ He will share with us. You will want proof.
God gave us the same Spirit that He gave to Jesus. Colossians 3:5 says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:" We get in that place with Jesus by mortifying our members. You mortify your members through fasting, and prayer, reading God's Word, and obeying it. When you do these things consistently you get closer to God, because you are no longer doing your will, but His will. If you don't think fasting and prayer breaks your will, listen to your members when you fast a couple of days!
If we are in Christ, we can appear before God, because where Christ is, there will his servant be (see John 12:26). This is the difference between the Raptured church and the dead church. I believe that the church can be in such a mode of operation that they will walk with God until the Rapture. Enoch walked before God for 300 years, and then one day he was not. He was gone! Elijah walked before God, and one day God came by in a chariot in a whirlwind, and Elijah was not! Fifty strong men hunted three days and couldn't find him, because he was in heaven. Moses knew God! God talked to him even apparently, the Bible says.
When Jesus manifested in the flesh God gave Him the Holy Ghost. Before he left He said He would give us another Comforter that would abide with us forever. By the Holy Ghost Jesus can manifest in you, and talk to you, that you can talk to God mouth to mouth, even apparently, and be His Bride and His witnesses to the end of the age.
Jesus 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." When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you can be a witness for God all over the world! Is He saying to Africans that they will just be witnesses in Africa? Is He talking to Americans to be witnesses just in America? Is He saying to Englishman that they will just be witnesses in England, or that just the Japanese will be witnesses in Japan? I don't think so! Whosoever will may come and drink of the water of life freely, and be witnesses even unto the end of the earth! It is a high calling to be with Him where He is.
The Bible says in Jude 24, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy," If that is after you die, then you would have to go to heaven with a fault, and His Bride is going to be without spot or wrinkle!
Jesus told the men who brought to him the woman who was caught in the act of adultery: ". . . He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Jesus was the only one there without sin, but He decided to be merciful. That shows how reprobate the church was in those days. He couldn't find anybody without sin. You can't go to heaven with sin.
Romans 8:11-13 says, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." "Mortify" means to kill. He goes on to say in Verse 14, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." If you are walking according to His Spirit, and not according to your flesh, the Bible says that you will live. Christ will come and dwell in you, and you will come and dwell in Christ. He will quicken your mortal body. That doesn't mean just in healing. I believe that it means translation as well.
Father, I believe for the victory on every soul that reads this message. Let us get a new grasp of the fact that Jesus was manifested in the flesh, and that He desires to do it again in our mortal bodies. Jesus, you said that we would be filled if we would be hungry for the witness of God in our lives. God, make us pure in heart, so we will see God. If any who reads this is lost, cold, or backslid, I ask that you would bring them to an altar of prayer. God, I believe you for revival in Jesus' name. Amen.
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