.  

Living Hope Fellowship Church .... Sermons From the Pastor

EFFECTUAL FAITH

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

       Printing Instructions:  Until we have made a printer friendly page you will need to  highlight, copy, take to program you will want to use and paste to print.  Always do a print preview first to see what formatting will need to be done. Take into program you would normally use for word processing or go to Start, Programs, Accessories, and WordPad and paste material, most of the formatting will stay the same. Line spacing may change if this happen you may need to enter before some paragraphs to regain formatting.

EFFECTUAL FAITH

Preface

James 5:16 says, “. . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”   You can count on that much being more than you can ask or think.  If you please God, and do what He says to get to that place you need to be, then God has a much for you. 

1 Kings 18:44 says that the seventh time the servant looked for rain for Elijah, there was a little cloud the size of a man's hand.  The servant was to go tell Ahab to get ready, because a flood was coming, and it was coming out of that little cloud!  That was just a vapor, a mist, not even enough to make a frog bat his eyes, but it was enough for God to do something with. 

God can do something with almost nothing.  If you believe the Word of God, you will see miracles happen.  You don’t need a great big cloud to have a flood.  Faith concentrated to the size of a grain of mustard seed is enough leverage to move mountains. 

It is never too late for God to move.  Quit getting discouraged at the time and the size of the cloud.  Believe God anyway.  HAVE FAITH, and God can change everything.  We know that our little is much when we put it in the hands of God!

EFFECTUAL FAITH

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

I remember a story of a little boy who went into a candy store that had the old clear glass jars on the counter.  You had to reach down into them to get the candy.  After watching him a while, the guy that owned the place finally came over to him.  He noticed the boy had zeroed in on a certain kind of candy.  The boy’s buddy said, Go ahead and get you a handful, and we’ll get it and get out of here, but he kept waiting on the store man to wait on him.  The man reached in and got the candy for the boy, and the boy paid him.  When they got outside, the boy’s buddy wanted to know why he waited so long.  It was clear that the sign said a handful was for so many cents.  The boy said, Yeah, but I was waiting around, because I knew his handful was bigger than mine!  He got two hands full for the price of one. 

Remember that God’s hands are bigger than ours, and have faith that He can supply all your needs.

James 5:16 says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  You can count on that much being more than you can ask or think.  If you please God, and do what He says to get to that place we need to be, then God has a much for you. 

          Every account in the Bible is faithful and true, and these things are written for our understanding, warning, and example.  Even some things that are hard to be understood are in the Bible for us to dig out. 

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” 

1 Kings 18:41 says, “And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.”  Elijah was the prophet of God and Ahab was the king of Israel.  Verse 42-43 says, “So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.”  Every time the servant would come back and say there was nothing, Elijah sent him again, and he just kept on praying. 

1 Kings 18:44 says, “And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.”  That little cloud was only the size of a man’s hand, but it was enough! 

The Spirit of the Lord was upon Elijah and he had declared that there would be no rain or dew for three and one half years except according to his word.  Judgment was on the land.  There was a purging of the soil of the land and of the hearts of the people. 

In 1 Kings, Chapter 18, there was a move of God.  When the fire of God fell and consumed the sacrifice, it was acceptable to God, and he told Elijah to go pray.  He prayed for it to stop, and he had to pray for the rain and the dew to come back, so he got down to business.  He stuck his neck out and told the king there was going to be an abundance of rain.  He could hear it in the Spirit.  Ahab had seen enough out of Elijah by this time that he believed him.  Elijah told him to get up and eat and drink, because there was fixing to be a flood. 

Nathaniel marveled about the great discerning power of the Lord Jesus Christ when his brother brought him and showed him to Him.  Jesus told him when he was under the fig tree He saw him.  Nathaniel told Jesus that He was a prophet of God.  Jesus told him he would see greater things than these.  God is going to do a great work in these last days so others will come in and marvel and believe God.

1 Kings 18:44 said that at the seventh time there arose a little cloud the size of a man's hand.  The servant was to go tell Ahab to get ready, because a flood was coming, and it was coming out of that little cloud!  That was just a vapor, a mist, not even enough to make a frog bat his eyes.  It was enough for God to do something with. 

That is like the mustard seed faith of a believer.  God can do something with almost nothing.  He created the earth and hung it on nothing.  If you believe the Word of God, you will see miracles happen.  You don’t need a great big cloud to have a flood.  You don’t need a great big amount of faith if it is just concentrated to the size of a grain of mustard seed.  Jesus said that is enough leverage to move mountains.  If I can get a hold of this one thing in the Word of God, it will change this world for God.

The servant kept telling him there was nothing, but God had told Elijah something else.  Folks, people will tell you there is nothing.  Church people will tell you there is nothing going on, but I hear the sound of abundance of rain.  I don’t care what the flesh or the devil says, the Bible says if we can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 

He said there was going to be an abundance of rain, and Ahab had better get going.  1 Kings 18:45-46 says, “And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.  And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”

God had so anointed that old man of God that he outran chariot horses.  There was faith in his heart, and God was moving him.  Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” 

Are you prayerfully waiting on something from God?  Don’t look at the evidence, because it is liable to not be over the size of a man’s hand.  You don’t have to feel something if you will just believe God.  You don’t have to see everything yet, but if you will believe God, God will move.  We are going to have revival.  The devil has kept busy digging, and scratching, trying to cover up the blessing God is going to send.  He’s sent things to keep us diverted from the prize of God. 

Stay focused on Jesus.  God is fixing to send some rain.  It may start out small, but it will gather clouds together for a great rain, a great harvest, a great revival that will cover the earth.  Can you imagine the reaction of the servant when he came back to Elijah the sixth time?  Have we been seeking God, yet we say, This is the sixth time, and I’m telling you there is nothing out there.  The seventh time, I don’t know how this happened, but there IS a little bitty cloud.  God wants to give you eyes to see, and ears to hear, and a heart to understand the great move of God that is coming soon.  God just loves to do something to surprise the devil with defeat by giving us the victory at the last second!  He loves to surprise people and thrill their hearts. 

They thought it was too late for God to move in John, Chapter 11, when the family had already buried Lazarus.  They complained and told Jesus if He had been there, Lazarus would not have died.  He was trying to tell them He was there now, and it didn’t matter even if he was dead, yet he shall live. 

It is never too late for God to move.  Quit getting discouraged at the time and the size of the cloud.  Start believing God for the greatness of what He is able to do.  It doesn’t take anything for God to start something.  All you have to have is faith and nothing else, and God can change the entire outlook of everything.

You do not always see evidence ahead of time that your victory is coming.  Some do get signs that are confirmed later, and that is to comfort them in the Lord.  However, there are times He doesn’t do anything other than cause you to believe the Word. 

John 6:5-6 says, “When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?  And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.”  Jesus was not perplexed or troubled by the sight of the hungry thousands, but he was proving Philip. 

Folks, there are a lot of times when you are going through a trial or trouble that the Lord seems to say, What are you going to do now?  We need to respond with, Lord, I have no idea what I am going to do, but YOU are going to do something for a great victory!

God asked Ezekiel about the dry bones (see Ezekiel, Chapter 37).  There was a whole army, but the bones were dry, and scattered, and there was nothing on them.  It was an army that had been defeated and laid out all over the plain.  He asked the prophet a question, “Can these bones live?”  Ezekiel said, “O Lord GOD, thou knowest.”  Ezekiel 37:10 says, “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” 

God is looking for somebody that says, “I believe God.”  You can believe God PAST your senses. 

 John 6:7 says, “Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.”  He was naming the cost in the natural, but faith can be very economical.  When you have faith [now this is going to be a radical statement] you won’t need money, because some things money can’t buy, and sometimes you don’t have money.  If you have faith, you can have what God has for you. 

John 6:8-9 says, “One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?”  He began to look at the size of what they had.  Many of you believe you have faith in God for anything, but you know in yourself you can’t do anything.  If you take what little faith you have and put it in Jesus, He can multiply it.  In the Old Testament, God told Abraham, “. . . Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.”  (See Genesis 22:17 and Hebrews 6:14.)  What little bit you have is enough. 

The disciples searched out what was available to them, and took it to Jesus.  It was a little boy’s lunch, enough for himself.  Consider this lad who was willing to share his lunch.  Many are not willing to share because it is so little among so many.  The boy had faith as a little child, and he volunteered his lunch.  Folks, there are a lot of lunches we need to give to the Lord.  It wasn’t very much, but Jesus knew it was plenty enough.

John 6:10 says, “And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.”  That boy’s mama did not make a lunch for five thousand! 

Sometimes God allows your situation to get to the place where it will take a miracle to get it fixed.  It will take a miracle to get some saved, to fix a financial need, to remedy the physical or spiritual need, for some to be healed and delivered.  It will take a miracle because we don’t know any other way God can do it. 

John 6:11 says, “And Jesus took the loaves. . . .”  When they are in His hands, it is DONE.  With faith in your heart you can say, Lord I don’t have much, but what I have I give to you.  In Jesus’ hands it is great.  Your faith in the hands of the Lord is great and wonderful, and He can do mighty things which you don’t know anything about yet.  Put your prayer time, your study of God’s Word, and your fasting and faith in God in the hands of Jesus. 

Jesus took the loaves into His hands.  He looked up and began to pray over the meal to come.  Some probably said, What is going to happen when He gets about three people over, and it is all used up?  Others who had faith didn’t know HOW He was going to do it, but they knew He would do it.  I don’t know how God created the universe by speaking the Word, but I know He did.  I don’t know how God is going to heal you, or how He is going to deliver you, but I know He will.

Mark 9:23 says, “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”  He didn’t say, If you can understand.  He said, “If thou canst believe. . . .”  Many will not believe for the Lord to do something great unless they first understand it.  Folks, faith will get you out of having to understand.  It will get you past the carnal mind and will put you in the place God wants you, the place of faith. 

You can walk out on a limb, and they can saw it off, and the tree will fall, and you will remain standing there!  You can walk out on water and it will congeal under your feet and hold you up when normally it will not do such a thing.  You can stretch forth your rod and decree, Let the wind come and part this sea, because I am going across in the name of the Lord.  He will do it.  You can roll up your mantle and smite the water and say, Where is the God of Elijah, and the thing will part.  You can have faith as a grain of mustard seed and command the mountain to move, and it will obey you.

John 6:11 in entirety says, “And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.” 

John 6:12 is very matter of fact.  It says, “When they were filled. . . .” like it was no big deal.  They just kept bringing it out, and kept bringing it out.  Where was it coming from?  It was coming from the Lord.  They didn’t get crumbs; they were filled.  He was multiplying it faster than they could eat it.  God has miracles more than you can ask or think. 

After they were filled, John 6:12 says, “. . . he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”  There was some extra.  In the revival that is coming, there is going to be some extra.  There won’t be fragments lying around lost.  God wants you to gather in the extra for the ones who will come in at the last minute. 

John 6:13 says, “Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.”  I figure the little boy took that home with him.  If he did, imagine him starting out with a lunch and bringing home a cart full. 

We start out believing God on our knees, and James 5:16 again says, “. . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  Suddenly revival can come forth that all of hell cannot prevail against!  Matthew 16:18 says, “. . . I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

There were five thousand men, so along with women and children, there could have been 15 to 20 thousand people who ate the boy’s lunch.  He took home more than he brought.  Some of you have given until you have done all that you know to do, and you are frustrated.  Put it in the hands of Jesus.  Ephesians 6:13 says, “. . . and having done all, to stand.”  If you have done all, then stand, and don’t complain as you wait on the salvation of God. 

Folks, there is a sound of abundance of rain.  Let’s believe God.  We are fixing to see a great move of God.  All things are possible to them that believe.  Let’s ask God to take away our unbelief.  We know that our little is much when we put it in the hands of God! 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

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

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net

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.

© Living Hope Fellowship, Inc.