Living Hope Fellowship Church

NO OPINIONS

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

NO OPINIONS

Preface

( sanctification )

          1 Kings 18:21 says, “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” 

          God wants us to be cold or hot.  Having two different opinions on the same thing is being double minded, and you will be unstable in all your ways.

          God is still God forever.  There is no other God.  His Word is forever settled in heaven, and He does not change.  Let’s be fully persuaded to serve the Living God!

NO OPINIONS

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          Most people have an opinion about something.  Let’s go into the Word of God and consider the opinions of the people found in 1 Kings 18:21.  The scripture says, “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” 

          The prophet Elijah stood before God’s people and asked them a question that came straight from heaven.  God is still dealing with His people today and asking, “. . . How long halt ye between two opinions?” 

          Halt means to stumble, or to be crippled by, or fall down because of.  Why is it that God’s people are crippled?  They are not like they should be, because there is no holiness and no righteousness.  People aren’t excited about going to church.  They endure church rather than endure sound doctrine, strength in the Lord, and walking in the power and love of God.  They halt; they stumble; they backslide.  They come and go.  Doctrines have been formed that say that you can get by with that, but God is not pleased with that.

          Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”  The Scriptures apply now as much as they did then.  Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

          Elijah had asked the people, “How long halt ye between two opinions?”  The reason they stumbled, fell, and backslid is because they were divided in their thinking.  The Bible says in James 1:7-8, “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”  A person who is double minded cannot pray with faith.  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.” 

          Double minded people stumble.  They do not get saved or healed, and they do not get delivered.  They do not see their church grow, and they do not see revival.  They don’t see their families coming to God.  They see people going into false doctrines and cults.  They have been led astray in some areas themselves. 

          There is much confusion in the church world today!  Why is there so much halting, stumbling, and falling?  It is because they have opinions.  They have not made a “yes” decision for God.  They haven’t pressed in for Jesus Christ, and determined in their hearts that they would not leave nor forsake the way of the Lord.  They have not stayed in Christ that He would stay upon them with His anointing and blessings.  They have opinions about God, but they don’t have a confession or a walk before God. 

          The Bible declares that two opinions about the same thing will make you stumble. Many are halting between two opinions.  Well, I believe in holiness, but I believe that God will let me ‘slide’ over here, or he will let me ‘get by’ over there.  There is a “yes” and a “no” at the same time! 

          Some preachers preach against something, and yet do it themselves.  This is hypocrisy.  Jesus declared of the scribes and Pharisee that they were hypocrites.  Matthew 23:1-4 says, “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”  In other words, obey their words, but don’t copy their example. 

          There are many opinions in the land about God.  One of the biggest lies of “religion” is, You go your way, and I’ll go mine, and we will meet in heaven by a different route.  Jesus said in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” 

          Jesus said in John 10:8, “All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. . . .”  There are thieves, robbers, and liars today who will try to destroy you.  Some say, Well, our religion is older. Our way is older than yours.  Some say, Our times are different, or, We have a different heritage.  There is nothing greater than the ever present Spirit of the Living God.  He was before time, and always has been, and always will be.  Praise the Lord! 

          What is this opinion which is formed by the minds of men?  They will say that something sounds good, but that does not mean it is right!  Romans 8:7 tells us that, “. . . the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”  It is at odds with (against) the things of God.  In other words, an opinion about God will cause you to go to hell.  An opinion about what the Bible says can have you totally deceived.  Some people know just enough about the Bible to be contentious.  A lot of people know just enough of the scriptures in the Bible to fall for the Anti-Christ who is about to stand up in the last hours of this age.   

          I have never run into so many people who have opinions on the Bible!  Some have never read it, and some have read it very little.  Most have not even begun to read it all the way through, yet they have opinions about it.  Many people have already formed their own doctrines.  You can tell them something about the truth of the Word of God, and some will scoff or get angry, and some will just leave you!  Some will say that you are crazy, yet they haven’t even read it themselves.  That means that they have an opinion.  An opinion is not of faith!

          You are supposed to obey the Word of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord will bear witness to His truth in your life.  As you obey God’s Word, going on in Christ, you will be blessed, strengthened, delivered, and he will meet your needs.  Then those you pray for will get something from God.  However, having opinions will serve no purpose. 

          Elijah made a declaration in 1 Kings 18:21, “. . . if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. . . .” 

          Matthew 6:24 says, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. . . .”  Either serve God, or serve Baal.   You will serve one or the other. 

          Jesus made a statement about a tree’s fruit in Matthew 12:33, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.”  Even though it may appear good, the fruit may be rotten.  Even though your first thoughts of it are evil, the fruit may actually be righteous.  1 John 4:1 says, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 

          The Pharisees were so caught up in their own opinions, that they looked at the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, right in the face, and did not know who He was!  Matthew 23:5 says, “. . . they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,”  They had an outward appearance of righteousness, but Jesus told them in Matthew 23:27, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.”        The scribes and Pharisees were filled with iniquity, idolatry, hypocrisy, and the wickedness and uncleanness that mankind gets through the power of the devil.  They were religious leaders, but they had two opinions.  Opinion will get you to hell.  The faith that is in Christ Jesus will get you to heaven, but you have to make a decision.  Are you going to walk around believing that something should be a certain way, or are you going to search out the truth? 

          When you read the Bible and find scriptures that don’t match up with your opinion, what are you going to do?  The Bible gives you the facts.  God’s Word is the Truth.  John 8:32 says, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

          What you think, your opinion about something and even what you believe about the things of God, are not of God if they do not line up with the Word of God.  The Word of God shows God’s way.  You see, God doesn’t have an opinion; God has a law.  God sent forth His truth, and we must either abide by it, or we will die and go to hell.  There is no middle ground or gray area.

          Jesus says in Revelation 3:15-16, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”  He will do that, because they are halting.  They are stumbling and falling around.  One day they do fairly well, and the next day they aren’t.  You have to really make a decision for God.  If you are not sure, the answer is still “no”. 

          If you say, Maybe, or you say, Tomorrow, or, Perhaps another time, or, Almost thou persuadest me, you are still giving a “no” answer to God.  That is the way He will take it, and on judgment day His answer to you will be “NO”, because you halted and bounced around like a rubber ball.

          God doesn’t want His people to halt between two opinions.  There aren’t ten thousand true doctrines of Christ.  It says in Ephesians 4:4-5, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism,”

          The power of God is in the truth of God’s Word.  Why would anybody want to change it, except that they had another opinion?  They want it to fit their opinion. 

          Man’s opinion is not of God.  Because of this, men have made their own translations of the Bible.  There are many teachers in the land who are pulling people away from the truth, because it is “profitable” to them.  We see a revival of witchcraft and tradition in the church world.  The reason for this is that the people have two opinions! 

          Because you hear someone talk about Jesus does not make them godly.  The devil can preach about Jesus!  Paul said in Galatians 1:8-9, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

          Have nothing to do with these who preach a gospel that is not of God.  Don’t attend their services or their seminars, because it is not of God.  It says in 1 John 2:21, “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” 

          You may hear people say things like, Well, that sounds pretty good, but it sounds a little off.  Compare it with the Word of the Lord, and if it doesn’t line up with it, then trash it, because it is not of God.  Satan will tell a hundred truths and then bring in something that is a lie.  That one lie is enough to destroy any of the truths that he said to you, and it will not prosper you. 

          You must live and walk in the things of God until the end.  I thank God that He sends us His power and has given us His Word.  As we walk without forming opinions, but rather we obey the Word of the Lord, God will be glorified in His people.

          If you are halting, and you have never gotten real with God, you are going to stumble and fall, and the end thereof is your destruction.  Jesus says in Matthew 12:30, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” 

          Today, I admonish you to repent.  Harden not your heart.  Don’t form an opinion about God, but rather obey God according to His Word.

  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

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.