Living Hope Fellowship Church

FAITH SUBSTANCE

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

FAITH SUBSTANCE

Preface

(money, God gives back when you give)

          Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good report.”  There is an obtaining when you put your faith in God and do something. 

You give first, and then it is given back.  When you give to God, the same measure that you give with, the same faith that you give with, the same size of sacrifice that you give with - it will be measured back to you.  When you come to God for something, bring a BIG container.  Believe Him for the impossible.

When we give cheerfully to the Lord, He said He is able to make ALL grace abound toward us!  He said we would have sufficiency of all things.

I believe giving to God is evidence of our faith!  Give to God in obedience to His spirit, and be blessed.

FAITH SUBSTANCE

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good report.” 

They got a hold of it.  Their faith got them something.  We want to see substance and evidence with our faith, but do we believe God? 

Romans 12:3 says, “. . . according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”  The Bible says that every man has the measure of faith, but do we believe God’s Word?

There is an obtaining when you put your faith in God and do something.  Faith is more than a belief system.  Faith is the doing of that belief system.  The Book of Acts was called that for a reason.  It wasn’t called the Book of Beliefs!  They acted upon their beliefs.  They acted on their faith in God. 

We have to put action with what we say we believe.  You may need a gallon of milk, and you may believe a store near you has it.  You know that you can get it just as quick as anybody else, but if you never go to the store after it, you aren’t going to get it.  We have to do something. 

Do you want to put wheels on your faith?  We want substance and evidence in our faith.  Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

How do you get something?  You give first, and then it is given back.  The key word through this message is measure.  The last part of that verse is very, very important where it says, “. . . For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” 

The same measure that you give with, the same faith that you give with, the same size of sacrifice that you give with - it will be measured back to you.  All of these run together. 

One picture of Collette’s African trip showed beautiful children waiting in the food line.  Each one of them had a different bowl.  Some had genuine eating bowls, some had tin cans, and others had large containers.  The sizes varied. 

Let’s say I was giving away millions of dollars, and I told you to bring you a sack.  Let’s say I also told you that you could take home with you as much money as you could get in that sack!  You would have to bring your own sack.  I’m not going to provide the sack for you.  Nobody else is going to provide the sack for you.  You have to bring your own sack and you are going to put money in it.  You bring your own measure. 

Would you bring back a tea bag size sack?  One sack is all you can bring, but you can stuff all the money you can in that sack.  I hope you realize the bigger the sack, the more money you are going to get!  The measure you meet, the measure you bring, is how much you are going to take home with you!

He tells you to give, and your livelihood, your giving, is part of you; you worked for that; you earned that.  As you give, you make your own measure.  Everybody brings their own measure.  Some of you could be bringing in some BIG SACKS so you could get all the money you possibly could get. 

We need substance and evidence to our faith.  Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you,” and He said, “. . . with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”  What you get back is the size of your measure.  If you want to get something from the Lord, you have to give to the Lord. 

How do you get anything in this world?  You take it!  How do you get anything from the Lord?  You give something first.  As you give, you are building your measure.  As you dedicate your self, time, money, effort, and things to the Lord, that is building a measure that He is going to measure back to you. 

Read Luke 6:38 again, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. . . .”

In other words, it’s going to be packed.  It won’t be like some bags of potato chips you buy that have more air than chips!  My father-in-law figured up the ounces in a bag of chips, how much it cost, and how much a bushel of potatoes cost.  He figured that somebody was getting about $400 $500 a bushel for those potatoes!  They puff up the bag tightly with air, but it sure does rattle inside.  Then on the side of the bag you may read, “Some settling of the contents may have occurred.”

When God gives the measure you aren’t going to open it up and realize it is about half air.  It is going to be packed!  He said it is going to be a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over!  God is going to make a way for you. 

God is going to use the same sack, bucket, or container, you bring ready to receive something from God, but first you have to empty it.  If my bucket is half full, I’m only going to get half a bucket when I come.  I didn’t dump it out first.  Jesus told a rich young ruler to dump it all out, to sell all he had and follow Him, but the man held on to what he thought was security. 

Many things we hold on to for security are not going to last.  Money and other resources that God deals with us to use instead for His work will be given back in a great measure.  God deals with the poor as well as the rich about giving to God. 

America is still blessed, for now.  We need to thank God for good health, and that we can still work, and for a sharp mind.  However, God wants us to invest in His Kingdom.  Some people say now is the time to hold reserves, but now is the time to spread this gospel, because we don’t have very much longer. 

It may seem prudent to you to have one hundred thousand dollars in the bank, but what if God said, “Let me be your retirement; let me be your peace; let me be your security?”  That is like what He told the rich young ruler.  Folks, this is an important spiritual fact. 

Ecclesiastes 5:12 says, “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.”  That indicates a man that works for what he has, he owns it and his sleep is sweet.  However you can have so much stuff that you can’t sleep at night, because you are worried about what is going to happen to your stuff. 

If you had $10,000 dollars lying on your dresser, you would be making sure nobody got it.  You probably wouldn’t sleep at night.  You would be getting it to the bank, because somebody is liable to steal it.  What if you gave it to the Lord?  It is out of your hands.  When you give to the Lord it isn’t your responsibility anymore.  The Lord never sleeps or slumbers, and He will take care of it.  

Some people are too rich.  When the Rapture trumpet sounds I believe we ought to be flat broke with everything we have in the Lord!  I’m not talking about selling all that you have and sitting in the middle of the highway waiting for Jesus to come.   Far more people are guilty of hoarding stuff back. 

The Book of James is rough.  James 5:1-3 says, “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” 

In Mark 10:25 Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

What happens when the bank cannot give us a loan, and the bills come?  When we get fearful, we get irritable, nervous, or nagging.  Why?  It is because we believe in money to buy pretty much what we want. 

What if you didn’t have any money, but you had Jesus?  I believe Jesus can get me anything and more than money.  Jesus can go right on in the Spirit and get me what I want.  Which should we have more of then?  The bigger measure of natural things or a bigger measure of spiritual things?  God said that you can’t have both.  Matthew 6:24 says, “. . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

Joshua 24:15 says, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve. . . .”  Look at what Ecclesiastes 5:13 says:  “There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.”  Has God ever told you to give, and you didn’t do it?  Look back on the time span between the time He told you and now, and see the price you paid. 

I don’t want to owe any man anything, but to owe God is worse.  He wants to bless, but sometimes we tie the hands of God this way. 

If I give, that is the developing and the raising up of my measure that God is going to give me back, and I want God to give me back.  I talk about the projects that we have here, but there are other projects and other needs in other places.  God loves people all over the world, and we need to reach out in a greater fashion.  In the measure you reach out is the measure He is going to reach down. 

Ecclesiastes 5:17 says, “All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.”  This is still talking about the rich man who kept his riches to his own hurt! 

Americans are some of the sickest people in the world!  I saw a program talking about little kids who were mentally deranged.  They called it “Attention Deficit Syndrome” and “Hyperactivity”.   That is caused by the devil!  It is under a curse, and if the people do not hear the gospel, and do not know Jesus Christ, the curse goes on.  Proverbs 26:2 says, “. . . the curse causeless shall not come.”  You have to eradicate the cause.  Americans spend billions of dollars on drugs.  If we put our riches in the right place we won’t have to put them in medicine. 

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20 says, “Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.  For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.”

Simplicity of life, love one for another, and true worship of the Lord our God – these things we remember the most.  It could come back again, if we get the clutter out. 

In the New Testament, the first church had financial needs along with the spiritual needs.  They needed deacons, table waiters, and administrative workers among other needs.  Men worked for God in the church, and they worked in the natural.  Somebody had to keep the books as they brought the money in.  The church in Jerusalem also took up collections for those hurting in other parts of the world and sent it through one of the saints.  In Acts you can read these things.  They chose honest men full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom and appointed them over church business.

There were natural things that had to be attended to as the church grew. Within the Bride of Christ, we are not supposed to be surprised by expansion or to be unable to go on and grow in the Lord.  We should expect it and consequently, prepare for it. 

Noah built an Ark and prepared for the saving of his house and all of the world (whosoever would have it), including the animals.  He prepared before judgment came.  Judgment is coming now!  Many are beginning to sense that Christ’s appearing is imminent, and we are about to see the wrath of God come on this earth.  Some people say that we need to be building food shelters, and digging holes, and hoarding up things.  However, I believe we need to build a school and go on mission trips. 

I want to look into the light of the face of Jesus Christ.  I want to walk in the presence of Almighty God, so when people come in, they will get whatever their need is, even if they are dead!  Whatever it takes to enter in to that, I want to be spiritually ready. 

Some people will be dealt with to give sacrificially.  This is a crucifying of self.  You may step out on a limb, and maybe the devil will saw it off, but I believe the tree will fall with him in it, and you will stay up there standing on the limb.  God will hold you up.  I believe this with all my heart.

God sent Elijah to a very poor widow who was gathering two sticks.  She was going to bake a cake with only a handful of meal.  The country was in a total economic collapse because of the drought, and there was no money exchange between Elijah and the widow.  She just obeyed the man of God.  Can God bless through bartering? Yes, God can bless through any obedience toward God.

When money fails we will use other things.  We have been tithed to with eggs and meat before in our ministry.  I can’t buy an automobile with a ham hock, but I can sure enough eat it.  I’m talking about giving to the work of the Lord.

When they institute the mark of the Beast the Bible talks about, immediately your cash is worthless.  It is already in place, and that is the direction that we are headed. 

Pretty soon your money and your savings won’t be worth anything.  The authorities now have power to hold a person for a week without any reason whatsoever.  That happened a few weeks ago; the President signed that into law.  They can freeze your funds without explaining why.  They can put you under investigation for a certain amount of time.  They could make it to where you are dead broke though you might be a millionaire. If that went into the gospel, they wouldn’t have anything to freeze.  What can you threaten somebody with who doesn’t have anything? 

The church of God needs to get to the place where we willingly and wisely give what we have to the Lord.  Then there won’t be anything that they can take away from you, because it will all be in the treasuries of heaven.  It will be working to get souls saved into the Kingdom of God.  It isn’t going to be much longer.  Jesus is coming soon!

You may say, What if Jesus doesn’t come for twenty more years, and I have given all my money to the Lord? 

David said in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”  The righteous are God’s children who walk by faith!  If you give to God and then feel like you are on pins and needles, you aren’t walking by faith in God.  The Bible says in Romans 1:17, “. . . The just shall live by faith.” 

If you stash money away somewhere, it isn’t going to do any good when the money changes.  2 Corinthians 9:6 says, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”  If you put out a few seeds, you are going to get a few back.  You can’t out give God!  One motivation for not giving to God is that you believe that you can out give Him. 

I have often used this true story about the man that first opened the J. C. Penny’s store.  He is long dead now, but he started out as a Christian in his business, and he gave 2/10 of everything he made to God.  In his latter years, back in the early part of the 20^th Century, he was a multi-millionaire and was giving God 8/10 of everything he made.  He was giving God $80.00 out of every $100.00 he made, and he couldn’t spend it fast enough!  He couldn’t out give God.  He is one of many living testimonials to that fact. 

What if we as a church began to do that?  You may think that is irresponsible, but I think it is faithful.  I think we are so prudent or fearful sometimes that we don’t do anything.  I think that is the measure we are using. 

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 says, “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” 

When we give cheerfully to the Lord, He said He is able to make ALL grace abound toward us!

You will have sufficient of all things, money, food, clothing, rent, housing, an automobile, or whatever the needs are.  You will have excess on top of that to give to the work of the Lord.  You can’t out give God!

2 Corinthians 9:10 says, “Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)”

Here is the answer to someone who says that they don’t make much.  Maybe you have a split household, such as where the other spouse doesn’t believe in giving tithes and offerings, or you may be a child in an unbelieving household. 

If you want to give, and your heart is right, God will give you something to give. 

Let’s say you have $100 in your pocket, and on your way to church God speaks to you, and He says, I’m going to make that $100 a $1000 if you will give it to me.  I will make it more down to earth for some of us.  If you have a one dollar bill in your pocket, and God says, I will turn that into a $1000 dollar bill, if you will give $900 to me.  You will have a hundred times more than you had, but 900 will go to me, and I made the way.

Would you do it?  When you open up that billfold and look at that $1, would it be hard to give the $900 away to God?

Sometimes when God blesses and blesses people, they just get into those blessings so much that pretty soon they start missing church!  Pretty soon the blessing becomes a cursing.  This happens all the time.  When God pulls the blessing off, then you are in debt, and away from Him, and again you have nothing to give. 

God will give you something to give, and He will keep you going.  He will give you excess to give, and multiply your seed sown on top of that.  He will make it go further than it ever did before.  In these last hours, we should get in the place with the Lord where we don’t have anything holding us down.  We have to pray with wisdom, but I’m giving this to you to make you understand that God has things He wants done. 

You can get a soul saved, but the body still has basic needs in order to stay alive like food, shelter, and clothing. We want revival, and we want people to know that Jesus loves them.  Revival is going to cost something, and we have to be willing to expand, come out of the rut, and get out of our depressive ways.

          We don’t know how much time we have left; God is the time keeper.  Ask God to show you the true perspective of poor and rich, need and luxury, and desire and lust, and that His perfect will be done in you.

  God wants to move, and I don’t believe that you can out give God.  He will make a way, and I believe giving to God is evidence of our faith! 

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.