Living Hope Fellowship Church

Back to Home Page

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

INTRODUCTION TO FAITH

Avenue of Faith Series #1

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.

INTRODUCTION TO FAITH

Avenue of Faith Series #1

Preface

(access to God through faith, faith versus works)

God has ordained through Jesus Christ that nothing be impossible for us! There is a way to get to God so we can be like the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth, and it is called the avenue of faith. If we are going to do the miraculous, we have to get closer to God to see that faith do more.

We are new creatures in Christ. In 1 Samuel 10:6 Saul was told by Samuel, “And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.”

John 14:12 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. . . .” We have to take the same faith avenue Jesus took. He limited Himself to us so He could elevate us to Him.

Isaiah 10:27 says, “. . . the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” We realize that we must abstain from this world and walk in holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Then revival shall come. Jesus said that the just shall live by faith!

INTRODUCTION TO FAITH

Avenue of Faith Series #1

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence

of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Matthew 17:18-20 says, “And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, 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.”

It is God’s design and intent for man to leave the realm of limitations caused by the fall of man, and return to the realm of “all things possible”. Consequently, God has ordained through Jesus Christ that we would walk in that, because He has ordained that nothing be impossible for us!

We have to take the limit off of God in our lives and trust Him. He knows how ignorant, weak, and sinful we’ve been in the past. However, He wants us to overcome these things and walk without any impossibility at all in our lives.

If you say that you are not worthy, and you are truly born again, you are saying the blood is not enough, or the covenant is not enough, and the Holy Ghost is not enough. Are you saying that you are a case that God can’t fix? There are a lot of unbelieving believers among church people.

When Jesus sent the disciples out, and they were able to cast out devils with great liberty, they came back rejoicing. Yet, there was one time they came back and asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the devil, and Jesus told them it was because of their unbelief.

There is a way to get to God so we can be like the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth, and it is called the avenue of faith.

Romans 12:3 says, “. . . God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Therefore, every human being has a mind and the ability to believe for something that they cannot see. Even children can believe for things they cannot see, because it is given to them by God. It is put in you; it is in your spiritual DNA. Faith is in every one of us.

Now, what you put your faith in - is another matter. I have seen some people put their faith in ridiculous, unfit things! God gave them faith, but they put it in the world, or Satan, or themselves, or money, or anything but God. This faith is wrong, and it is doomed to failure!

God has given us faith to believe Him. He does something special, and He sends it by His Spirit when it is time to be born again. A lost man has faith and a saved man has faith. I have prayed for lost people and watched God heal them, because they had faith in God. It was because they turned their faith away from themselves and their problem, the world, or whatever sin they were still in. They turned to God, and He healed them. That has happened many times. However, God doesn’t always honor this. That was to provoke them to receive God into their lives. God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith He loved us, gave us faith to receive Him.

Mankind believed God when he walked with Him in the garden in the cool of the day and up until the time that he disobeyed. As soon as you disobey God, you automatically discount everything you believe, and it stops the ability of God to walk with you.

Backsliding is easy to see in this. You have to understand, this thing had a beginning. Adam and Eve didn’t have to have faith for anything, because everything was provided for them. There was no need for prayer or intercession. Faith is a development of God for man so he can get out of trouble when he lives for the devil.

Ephesians 2:4-6 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” You have to get in Christ, folks.

Verse 7-8 says, “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

The grace of God sent Jesus! The blood of atonement was made through Jesus. We find though, that there has to be an access to grace. Access to grace is through faith. There are millions of people in the world who don’t know that Jesus died for their sins, but faith can give them access to Him.

You have to have your faith right or you don’t have access of any of the promises of God! It requires faith, faith in the right thing, and it requires obedience to God according to His Word.

You are not saved by faith – “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” It is the goodness and mercy of God that I am saved, that I am washed by the blood of the Lamb according to His Word. It is the goodness and mercy of God that I am healed, delivered, and filled with the Holy Ghost.

The goodness and mercy of God is shown by His grace. Grace means unmerited favor; it is a gift, and God gave us access to it! What good is a billion dollars’ worth of gold in a giant vault protected from the enemy, if there is no door to the one who wants it?

God made a door for us! Faith is the door to the grace of God. Faith is everything to getting to God. Grace brings the provision, but faith brings the access. We must be a faithful people; we must walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “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.”

We are an eternal people. We are a spiritual people, and it takes faith to access everything of God. The more that you believe for, the more faith it takes, because you have a greater access. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16:9, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” The enemy certainly stands there guarding it to keep us out.

Jesus said in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

You can’t come to Jesus unless the Spirit of God draws you, because the Spirit of God brings faith. True faith is creative, not dormant and not passive. Faith is the ability to access God, and it is the Spirit of God that carries faith.

Jesus is the author and the finisher of faith. God sent the Comforter, the Holy Ghost. Are you comforted when you find out that through faithful reading of the Word, God suddenly has something great for you? Sometimes He comforts you by His Spirit through the words of another. When you feel a great comfort, it is because before - you didn’t know, but now by faith you know. It is settled, and you feel good, because you have faith in that which cannot lie, and in that which cannot fail. However, we have to cultivate our faith in God, so we can see bigger miracles.

Philippians 2:12 says, “. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” He didn’t say to work to get salvation, but to work after you receive it, because faith without works is dead. James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

Faith joins the Spirit of the Lord as God moves upon a sinner. Suddenly the Spirit of the Lord moves on him through the spoken Word, or through the reading of the Word, or something that comes to him. Suddenly his faith, for a moment, is diverted from everything else and points to Jesus. Jesus says, If you will believe me I can save you right here and change your whole life.

It takes faith to access God, and God has to send the faith that comes by His Spirit. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Sinners can hear the Word of God every day, but if the Spirit is not on it, he can’t hear it!

Faith comes by hearing. The Spirit of God confirms the Word in your soul! All of a sudden you realize, That is right! That is God! It is true! The Spirit of God brings the faith to believe in the Word of God, and then we begin to read our instructions.

The sinner can’t understand the Word of God. He may be able to quote it right and left, but the only way we can understand it is by God’s Spirit. Zechariah 4:6 says, “. . . Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

2 Peter 1:20-21 says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

How many times have you read the Word of God and automatically assumed that was just the written Word? Sometimes it is the Spirit of God talking, because the Bible says that holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Faith comes when God gives it. I know people who have never heard any of the Word of God, yet they have a great faith, but without a direction for it. However, when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon them, suddenly they are directed that they need to believe in Jesus. They receive the Lord, and then they get out the Word of God. You can receive Jesus before you know the Bible.

It is the anointing that breaks the yoke, because when the Spirit of the Lord comes He brings faith. The Holy Ghost isn’t faith, but He brings faith. He brings Jesus to the lost! He won’t even talk about himself, but He glorifies the Father! Faith is the avenue to perform the miraculous of God, and to receive all of His promises.

1 John 3:21 says, “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” Confidence and faith are very similar. You have confidence toward God if you know that your heart is right, and if you know your faith is right. There are a lot of details in the promises of God, so we have the Word of God to define to us the particulars. Having faith in God, we do all that we know to do.

We find out more from the Word of God about sanctification than we do about power, but He doesn’t omit the power. In the last days, many will have a form of godliness, but they will deny the power thereof.

There is power in true godliness. Evangelist Smith Wigglesworth said that it is impossible to separate purity and faith. The further out of the world and into the Lord you are, the more faith you will have.

Faith came from God so that faith will get better only as you get closer to God. If we are going to do the miraculous, we have to get closer to God to see that faith do more. God has ordained that nothing be impossible to us, and we are able to walk in that by the avenue of faith.

Deuteronomy 32:18 says, “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.” God felt the same way when He drove Adam and Eve out of the garden. They were children in whom was no faith.

The first time that it was determined that there was a need for faith is when man was looking God in the face every evening, and He told them not to eat of a certain tree.

The serpent was the first devil possessed being, and God cursed him forever. You can believe what God has told you, or you can adjust to the current moment and change the way you believe. Satan depends on us being fickle and changing what we used to believe. Satan wants us to lose our first love, but God put faith in position so we can access what God says belongs to us.

Faith is also used for the fear of the Lord. We use faith to walk in holiness, without sin. Our faith isn’t just for the miraculous. Faith is for knowing that God wants us clean. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Pure means undiluted.

I believe that these eyes shall see God if I will line up with the Word, and it is all done by faith. People without faith will read in, misread, or whatever, to take that faith from others. However, Hebrews 4:13 says, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” God penetrates all the way through into every detail, and nothing is hid from God!

Faith is the access to God. It is the open door to God. John 10:7 says, “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.”

Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;” Faith in anyone or anything else won’t get you to God. It will just get you farther away.

Romans 13:1 says, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”

Every saved soul is ordained of God, and it is possible that we live without impossibilities. Get that in your soul! All the scriptures are wrapped around that fact. This isn’t just a rescue operation - the descending of the Lord, and His ascending, and the sending of the Holy Ghost. We are supposed to be overcoming! Faith will take you out of going your own way, and put you into God’s way! Faith is the avenue that God intends for us to take. We cannot go anywhere else without it.

Your thinker is your mind. The carnal mind and our whole nature that is summed up in our heads, is anti-Christ! Romans 8:7 says, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

You can’t fix your brain, but God says that He is going to do better than fix it. He replaces it with the mind of Christ, and we get converted. In 1 Samuel 10:6 Saul was told by Samuel, “And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.”

When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon us, we shall be changed into a new man. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Job 14:14 says, “. . . I wait, till my change come.” I will wait on God until my change comes! It is all done by the Spirit of the Lord.

Genesis 1:2 says, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The Spirit of God had to be present before anything could be created. The Spirit of God has to be present before anything can be healed, delivered, saved, and filled with the Holy Ghost!

That is why He says to, “Quench not the Spirit,” in 1 Thessalonians 5:19. You can have all the faith in the world, and all Bible knowledge, and even all history, but it won’t do a bit of good without the Spirit of God moving.

The disciples had been doing great miracles, but all of a sudden it stopped. They wanted to know what happened. Jesus told them it was because of their unbelief. Rather than forming a doctrine of their own, and saying that God doesn’t do that anymore, they asked why they couldn’t cast the devil out.

Some will say that if you conform to certain ways in the Word of God, things have to come to pass because it has already been done. However, God knows how something is going to go – a billion different ways.

Moses stood between all of Israel - men, women, and children, when God wanted to kill them. God said He would raise up a better nation of him, but Moses fell on his face and interceded and moved God not to kill them. There is a false doctrine that says you can’t move God, because He already has things set. If that was so, then what is intercession for? God has already provided for us, but until we yield our will to God, it is NOT done in our lives, because it takes faith. See how subtle this is! It has kept miracles out of the church. It has kept people in bondage and away from holiness living.

According to the Old and the New Testaments, a man must repent of his sins and STAY repented. When I was backslid, God spoke to me three times saying, “Ask me to forgive you.” I was telling Him some rigmarole about how I was from five generations of family in church. God saw I was not regarding Him. It is like He then said, “I said - Ask me to forgive you.” It irritated me in my carnal, stupid mind. Even the most brilliant minds in the world are stupid when it comes to the things of God. I asked Him to forgive me, and I repented.

1 Corinthians 1:25-27 says, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” God loves to get a worm like me out of the gutter, and use him to defeat the Devil.

When the Spirit of God comes in you, it is to glorify Jesus, not you. Jesus saved you, and the Holy Ghost gets you to the place where Jesus is all in all. John 16:13 says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” He goes in there for one express purpose – to kill your carnal mindedness. At the same time he will quicken your mortal body and heal you physically.

He wants you to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, taking on the mind of Christ. When you get born again, and Christ lives in you through the operation of the faith of God, He does the thinking. He is way down in your heart, but He wants up between your ears. He wants in your day to day lifestyle and in everything about you.

You start thinking differently as you read the Word of God. It kicks out everything you believed before, and you start believing right. Your mind is renewed. By the Holy Ghost God transforms you. The word transform, transport, transfigure, and translate, are close in definition. A transfigured man is a transformed man.

Jesus became flesh like us. The Word of God, the author and finisher of our faith, now has to operate in the very thing He invented! The Spirit of the Lord shall come and guide you into all truth. God is not interested in your head knowledge. When we pray and quote Him scripture, what He wants to know is what you have been doing with what you know!

If you believe for healing for your pet’s headache, that is fine. If you believe for big time healing, it is going to take more. If you don’t fast and pray, you will never cast out an unclean devil, and if your kids are devil possessed, they will go to hell.

If you aren’t getting victory, you are not yielding to God. Romans 3:3-4 says, “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. . . .” If the whole world doesn’t believe, it doesn’t matter. God is still God. Get closer to Him, and you can do the miraculous in the name of Jesus. The lunatic boy wasn’t sane enough to believe. Someone believed for him.

What are we going to do with this thing? We have a huge avenue here. Are we going to neglect so great salvation? You know it is true, but you never say yes to the Lord as He deals with you. Are you born again? Knowledge is not born again. Full faith in the Word is not born again. Repentance and acting on the faith given by the Spirit of God according to the Word is born again.

The book of Acts is the first thing after Jesus ascended that we read. It is recorded action, and there is no amen at the end of it. It is still in operation, and there is more to do. It is not limited to your preconceived notions of what God has done already, like we are little zombies without intercession power. The variances and the things that can happen are exactly proportional to the amount of faith of the people involved in it. More faith, greater stuff happens.

Folks, we need to let go and let God. God has given every avenue. Jesus said it gives God GOOD PLEASRE to give you the kingdom. Do you believe God wants to use you to cast out devils and raise the dead? You have to get saved first, and then get filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. You can’t do what Jesus did without having what He had. Then you have to WALK in it. Sometimes you have to put your foot down only because faith set it there. Your eyes won’t see where to put it. God wants us there.

God said the fearful and the unbelieving don’t go to heaven. We don’t want to go blindly on in our way; we have to stir up the gift within us. The Lord told us to build up our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.

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.