Living Hope Fellowship Church

CROSSING OVER

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

CROSSING OVER

Preface

(Kingdom of God, need the Holy Ghost)

          We love God and we want to work in His Kingdom.  However, there must be a crossing over.  It is the means of going from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of God. 

          1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”  So, why are we dragging our feet?

          God has called us to cross over, and He will equip us to do it.  He will endue us with power that we will win victory after victory for His glory.  God wants us to obtain that Promised Land so His Kingdom will be manifest in the earth.  Let’s go!    

CROSSING OVER

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          It is God’s original plan that we become a peculiar people in the blessings of God, so that we will be greater witnesses in the earth.  In Luke 22:28-29 Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;”

          Verse 35-36 says, “And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.  Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.”

          He told them that he had appointed them a kingdom, but until they got there they were in the but now stage!

          The Lord has been dealing with me somewhat about crossing over.  Christians are citizens of a kingdom, a country, and a city, and thereby have been made strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  However, Jesus said in Matthew 6:9-10, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”  This is the first thing you petition him for.  In Luke 17:21 Jesus said, “. . . the kingdom of God is within you.” 

          Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”  As we pray in the Holy Ghost, we are less manifest, and the kingdom becomes more manifest.  John 3:30 says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

          There is a crossing over.  It is the means of going from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of God.  Jesus said, “I am the door” (see John 10:7-9).  In John 14:6 Jesus says, “. . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

          Not only is Jesus the door, but He is also the pathway on in from that door, and there is no other way.  The veil between the outer court, all the way into the inner court, and into the holy of holies has been opened, but we must enter in. 

          In the third chapter of Joshua, the children of Israel were in a unique situation.  Moses had died, and Joshua had been given a charge by God to lead the people on.  There are similitudes in the Old Testament that refer to the New Testament.  Joshua is also a name of Jesus, and as Joshua was commissioned to bring the people into the Promised Land, Christ is commissioned to bring people into the Promised Land.  The Israelites had come to the end of life as they had known it geographically.  God had to do something to make a way for them to cross over to the other side in this life.

          Joshua 3:1-4 says, “And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.  And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;  And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.  Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.”

          Joshua told them they had never been there before.  Verse 5 says, “And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”  If we live a sanctified life the Lord will do wonders among us!

          God manifested in the pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day, and He constantly gave miracles of provision for His people!  When we sanctify ourselves before the Lord, it is manifest to all the world that we are God’s people!  Then we can expect the manifest presence of the Lord continuously, individually, and collectively.  It was that way in the Old Testament, and how much more should it be in the New Testament? 

          Joshua 3:6 says, “And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.”

          Joshua 3:14-17 says, “And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;  And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)  That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.  And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.”

          The river area there became a dry riverbed, and all the Israelites passed over Jordan on dry ground.  That means every last one of them!

          Joshua 4:10-18 says, “For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.  And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.  And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them:  About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.  On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.  And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.  Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan.  And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.”

          Joshua 5:1 says, “And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.”

          The children of Israel could not get to the other side of Jordan unless God made a way.  The timing was terrible because the Jordan river was in flood stage!  It was deep and swift, and it was the worst time to cross.  God’s timing is not man’s timing, and God’s ways are above our ways!  God didn’t build a bridge or dig a tunnel to bypass Jordan.  He spoke to those waters. 

          JORDAN is a symbolic dividing line between carnality and spirituality, and only God can cross us over.  This is not about salvation.  Salvation came the day that God brought them out of Egypt when He parted the Red Sea.  Jordan River represents getting baptized in the Holy Ghost, crossing over, and entering the other side. 

          Israel still had major battles to wage.  There is a difference between a people who are saved, but are wandering in the desert, and those who have crossed over Jordan.  In those days rivers were good barriers between nations, regions, cities, and armies.  Therefore, when God made a supernatural way for the people of Israel to cross Jordan at the worst time, the inhabitants of the land were terrified!  They knew it had to be of God! 

          As long as the children of Israel stayed under the anointing covenant of God they defeated army after army, city after city, and people after people as God commanded them.  God ordained them to have that country and that place!  There was a crowd of people, but God had to go first.  The men of war didn’t go first.  Even the priests didn’t go first.  The ark of the covenant of the Lord went first!

          When the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of that rushing water, the waters stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam that was miles away.  Those people walked on dry ground! 

          God wants us to cross over.  Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

          There are two stages.  Salvation is coming out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God, but then He brings you to face Jordan.  Jordan is the wall between us and the Promised Land, which represents all the promises of God to us.  It represents the ministry of Christ. 

          The Promised Land was full of giants, other enemies, and battles, but just as the Ark of the Covenant of God went before them, Jesus is with us, and He will win every battle!  Jesus is the Person of the covenant between God and man.

          Mark 9:23 says, “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

          If you are obeying Christ, you are walking in the covenant of the Lord, and wherever your feet shall tread God will give you victory. 

          The devil lost his position in heaven and has no more place with God.  When man failed, the devil took over man’s position.  When man is redeemed by the blood of Christ, man takes back that position.  The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and when we get filled with the Spirit of the Almighty God it belongs to us again!     

          You have to fight.  You can’t look at the size of mountains, people, devils, or the length of time that they have been there.  The devil has no more claim to your house, your body, your children, or anything else if you are born again.  If you are saved, get filled with the Holy Ghost, and you can whip the devil not only on your turf, but for others who need help.

          Jericho, Ai, and all the people on the other side of Jordan didn’t care what Israel was doing as long as they were on the other side of Jordan.  They were awestruck with what God had done to Egypt for their sakes, but it didn’t affect them until Israel crossed over!

           When you get filled with the Holy Ghost you have crossed over; you are on a different scale.  Jesus told His disciples in Luke 24:49, “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”

          When you get filled with the Spirit of God you will see the devil get scared, and the only hope he has is that you stay ignorant of his devices and ignorant of God’s promises.  After you get saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, read the Word of God, and He will show you how to apply it to your day to day life.  He will also show you how to make great gains in the Spirit realm. 

          God has never made a mistake, but He has been accused of it even by some very spiritual people. If God sends you, then it can’t fail.  The route that He takes you may be different than what you imagined, but it isn’t a failure.  God doesn’t make mistakes. 

          When Joshua and the people got to the Promised Land, it was exactly where, some forty years previously, some had told them, There is no way.  Today some say that miracles passed away with the apostles, or, God doesn’t work that way anymore, but God never changes, He doesn’t fail, and He doesn’t need to improve!

          They had to cross over to the other side, but they faced conflict!  Jericho was one of the most fortified cities Israel had ever faced, and it had been there a long time.  However, the same anointing that they crossed Jordan with is the same anointing that brought the walls of Jericho down!  It is the presence of the Lord.

          God has commissioned every one of us to cross over, but you should expect to be in battle when you cross over.  You can be sent by God, and you can be anointed by God, but unless the Lord is present, you won’t be fully successful.  He said of His church in Matthew 16:18, “. . . the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

          We have to get out of the kingdom of this world and get into the kingdom of God in a greater way.  God has called us to cross over to the other side even though there are giants waiting to discourage.  God says that He is with you, and He will never leave you nor forsake you.           

          In the Bible we read that Jacob was about to face his brother Esau who was coming with several hundred men.  That wasn’t a welcoming party!  He was going to kill him.  When they got to the brook, Jacob sent everything over to the other side.  He was alone and about to cross over, but there stood an angel.  If he could whip him he could save himself and all of his household!  They wrestled all night.  Then the angel touched his thigh, and Jacob (renamed Israel) limped the rest of his life.  God didn’t want him to forget what it takes to cross over and live on the other side! 

          David and his six hundred men wanted to fight with the Philistines against Saul, but they refused to let him.  When David and the men returned, their camp had been completely destroyed, and their families had been captured.  You gallivant around the Philistines, and that will happen to you.  They sat down and cried until they had no more strength.  Then they realized that God was the only answer, and David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.  1 Samuel 30:8 says, “And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.”

          God told them exactly where they went, but when they got to the brook Besor, 200 out of the 600 men could not cross over because they were so faint.  Some are faint and weak in their understanding and in their prayer time.  They will have to stay on this side.  They will be totally dependent on whether or not David and his men make it across and win the victory.  That is a position that I personally can’t take. 

          David and his men left their extra stuff by the brook, carrying only their weapons of war.  They crossed over, ran down the enemy, and without fail recovered all.  They destroyed the enemy so that they were never able to take from them again. 

          There is a crossing over that must happen to the church congregation.  If we are going to go anywhere, we can expect battles!  I have a vision and a goal, and God sent me.  I have the anointing of God to assist me.  God will make a way where I can’t make one, so I have decided to cross over to the other side.

          There will be battles.  There will be hunger and thirst.  There will be sorrows and pain, but 1 Peter 5:10 says, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

          The priests stood in the middle of Jordan and they did not waver.  Everybody else was going on across as that water stood there.  There were tons of water that could come down and destroy them just like it did the Egyptians.  Maybe they remembered the stories that their parents told them about what God did at the Red Sea.  When God makes a way you have to walk through it!

          God gave me a night vision of me standing on the Ohio River landing we used to have.  In this dream I saw where He parted the water, and then He said to walk across.  It was clear and as dry as can be.  It was a path all the way across to the Kentucky side of the river.  The lower side didn’t drain out.  I could see the upper side just standing there, but the lower side was flowing on - it didn’t dry up.  He said to walk across, but I was too afraid to walk across at the time.  It takes faith to walk on across that thing!  It might come back in and get me!  It is scary, because it is a river bed.  You have to walk down into it, and the land is up there, and you think, I’m in a hole between tons of water!  You can hear it roaring on either side. 

          The Bible says that the priests took the covenant of the Lord and they stood firm.  Church leadership is called to do this so that the people can cross on over to the other side and win battles and victories.  That is what the calling of the ministry is all about! 

          You have to be willing to cross over.  Whether you are among the first people to cross over or the last, when you come up out of that dry river bed, you can say, Look what I have been through.  Look what God has taken me to.  God has brought me here for a purpose!  God has taken me over.  He has given me a calling and a vision.  He has something for me to do.

          Hallelujah!  Israel defeated all those nations!  If he didn’t have that for them to do they would have never crossed over in the first place.  In the Bible, any place where they crossed a brook, a sea, or a river it was for a reason. 

          I want to get across.  If I have to fight bigger battles when I get there, I’m going to be victorious in every one of them as long as I walk with God!

          1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”  So, why are we dragging our feet?

          God has called us to cross over, and He will equip us to do it.  He will endue us with power that we will win victory after victory for His glory.  God wants us to obtain that Promised Land of God so His Kingdom will be manifest in the earth.  By faith we will accomplish this!

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghope@hughes.net

www.livinghopefellowshipchurch.org

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.