Living Hope Fellowship Church

ROUND TO IT GOD

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

ROUND TO IT GOD

Preface

(give God your best / put God first / preachers)

          Our God is not a God of convenience; He is a God of sacrifice, and He requires sacrifice out of us! He sacrificed his own Son for us. When you sacrifice to God, it is a sweet smelling savor to His nostrils.  You cannot out-give God! 

          You have to break free of the “Round To It” god.  If something takes up all of your time, you still had better find time for Jesus.  If you have to get up an hour earlier to get a hold of God, then do it.  The Bible says that God spoke to the world through His prophets, rising up early, and speaking. 

          You might miss your breakfast, but you had better not miss God!  Get around to it and serve God with all your heart according to the first commandment!

ROUND TO IT GOD

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          I was praying one time, and the Lord spoke to me, and he said, “SON, I AM NOT A GOD OF CONVENIENCE.”  God is a God of sacrifice, and He requires sacrifice out of your life!  You may say that you don’t believe that, but He sacrificed his own Son.  You are not above God’s Son.  It is a sacrifice to serve the Living God in this world.  You are going to have to give up some things before you can serve God, and before you can even come to God.  Many people will tell you, and some preachers will preach to you, that you can take a lot of things to heaven with you! 

          However, 1 Timothy 6:7 says, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”  NOTHING!  If you have too heavy a load, you aren’t going anyway!  The Holy Ghost is like a dove; he’s not a beast of burden.  The dove is a light, delicate thing that is easily grieved or disturbed.

          The devil got thrown out of heaven, because he had the blessing and the power of God, but he rejected it for his own will.  Men now are doing that daily.  God told me He was turning them over to a “Round To It” god. 

          When I get around to it, God, I’m going to pray!  When I get around to it, God, I’m going to fast!  When I get around to it, God, I’m going to serve you.  When I get around to it, God, I’m going to get saved.  When I get around to it, I’m going to come back to Jesus; I’m going to get right with God.  When I get around to it . . . When I get around to it. . . .  Satan has you bound if you are continually saying, When I get around to it. . . . 

          Paul was talking to a king about the things of God.  Acts 26:27-28 says, “King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.  Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”  He waited too long.  That man is in hell, because he was almost persuaded, but he never got around to becoming a Christian. 

          Acts 24:24-25 says, “And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.  And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.”  This man wanted to find a more convenient time. 

          God waited on that man for two years, yet he would not come to God!  Paul the Apostle, one of the most anointed man of God since Jesus Christ, was there in the building with the man for two solid years!  Paul had so much anointing that you could take pieces of his clothing and give it to somebody else, and they would cast out devils, and heal the sick!  Paul had the “goods”!  After two years of fellowship with Paul, he would not come clean with God.  He is in hell, because a “Round to it God” (devil) bound him, not letting him serve Jesus.

          You say, When I get around to it. . . , but you need to get set free from “round to it”, and get right with God!  You say, Well, Lord, when I get around to it I’m going to go to church. 

          When people get around to it, they are going to have time for God, but they keep procrastinating.  Do know what procrastinate means?  The original form of it, in the language that it came out of is, “tomorrow, tomorrow”.  Twice it says, “tomorrow”. 

          You may die tonight!  You may say, Tomorrow I’m going to come clean with God!  Yet, if you die tonight, you will be dirty before the Living God!  Procrastinate means to put things off.  It means to do things later, or to postpone something that you are supposed to do, according to Webster’s Dictionary. 

          Most haven’t got anything to gain by putting something off that they are supposed to do.  A lot of people are serving a “round to it” god.  You may say, You don’t know my schedule, Pastor, or you may say, You don’t know what I have to go through all the time.  So, you think that God made it more difficult for you to get to Him than for somebody else?  God gave you less hours in the day than somebody else, right?  Well, my schedule is full.  I’ve got things to do.  You don’t know my job schedule, and you don’t know my home schedule. 

          You may have eight hours or more to work.  You may have eight hours to sleep.  Maybe you have fourteen hours to work, but you still have several hours every day, including some time off to serve God and to seek His face.  Yet, do you know what sucks up your time?  It is your television!  I’m telling you this straight from heaven!  This is coming to me right now in my left ear, and I’m sending this out of my mouth while I’m getting it.  He says, YOU SPEND MORE TIME IN FRONT OF THE TELEVISION THAN YOU DO IN FRONT OF ME, AND YOU ARE LEARNING WHAT IT HAS. 

          I didn’t say that television was sin, but when it becomes your “Round To It” god, it is sin!  You can go to hell from watching television.  You can go to hell from not seeking God!  God says in His Word in Hebrews 11:6, “. . . for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  He rewards them that diligently seek Him. 

          Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”  God says to call unto Him, but they have not called unto God.  He says that they have a “Round To It” god, and it is calling them back, saying, Tomorrow.  Tomorrow! 

          Some will vow a vow, and will break it in three days!  That is like Peter.  Matthew 26:33-34 says, “Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.  Verse 35 says, “Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.”  Peter denied Jesus that night, and he had been walking with the Master, Himself. 

          Jesus is worth your time, and so is heaven, even though our God is a God of sacrifice.  There are some things that you know you have to give up.  If you don’t, they will take up all of your time.  Then you aren’t even going to think about God! 

          Let me give you a personal testimony.  In 1991 we were in the process of selling our home and farm.  We had a home picked out in town that we were going to buy.  We wrestled it, and, yes, it was difficult.  I was leaving my home place.  I cried in the corner, my wife cried, and the kids cried.  The house that we were going to had to be remodeled.  In the meantime we had been physically building the church building.  In the Spirit we had been trying to build it up as well.  Try doing all of that, working for a living, and still find time to sleep! 

          I get a little fed up with people telling me that they don’t have time for God.  God is fed up with it, too!  You say, I don’t have time, God.  You say, When I get around to it. . . .  I told the Lord that I could not spend the time in prayer that I needed to, because I had to get all these other things in line.  In the conversation between me and Jesus during those months, I argued with Him about this issue.  I said, God, I just don’t have the time for this.  There is no way that I can do this thing with the church, spending hour after hour out there, trying to get it done.  We’re working as fast as we can, and we are trying to do a decent job, AND we are trying to get this house situation done.

          We were trading houses, because the house that we were going to required less maintenance, which would allow us more time for God.  I said, God, how can I do all these things?  I’ve got to be able to have a little slack here, so that I can still see that you work miracles in the church until I can get more time to pray.  However, God still told me this:   “MY WORD MUST BE HONORED.  I HAVE GRACE.  I HAVE A PERIOD OF GRACE, AND I WILL HELP YOU WHEN YOU CAN’T HELP YOURSELF, BUT MY WORD MUST BE HONORED.  I TOLD YOU IN THE SCRIPTURE I GAVE YOU.”            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.”  God continued, “I’M NOT A REWARDER OF THEM THAT DON’T.  WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS GOOD, IT IS NEEDFUL, AND I’M PROUD OF YOU, AND I HAVE DRAWN YOU MYSELF, BUT I STILL REQUIRE YOU TO SEEK MY FACE AND PRAY.”  I said, But, God, you are not making more days!  He said, “I’LL MAKE MORE HOURS THAT YOU WON’T KNOW ABOUT, BUT YOU HAVE TO TRY IT.” 

          I don’t know anybody guilty of spending too much time with God! God said if you tithe and give offerings, He would bless you more than what you had in the beginning.  If He will give you wealth in the physical, how much more will God, who is a Spirit, give you wealth in the Spirit?  He can give you more time!  He can give you more efficiency in your day! 

          When you sacrifice to God, it is a sweet smelling savor to His nostrils.  It blesses Him and makes Him happy, and He will bless you.  You cannot out-give God!  God fed Elijah with ravens, and He will feed you the same way and better.  As I was pacing and praying, the Lord said, “I HAVE HANDED THE WORLD OVER TO A “ROUND TO IT” GOD.”  He just kept saying it over and over. 

          I asked God what the effect of this was.  He let me know that every time that they say no to God so that they can go do something else, and they tell Him that they will get around to it, then He makes it to where it is more difficult the next time to get around to it!  Try missing church a few times, and see how hard it is to get back.  You will never get back if you don’t come clean with God!  James 5:16 tells us to pray one for another. 

          I asked the Lord why He would do this thing.  He said it was so they will see what it is to serve a “Round To It” god.  A “Round To It” god says that you are going to serve God in a little bit, but you have this to do, and that to do, and your schedule is thus and such, and you have to do these things, and God . . . Well, He is patient; He will wait on you another hour. 

          So you might pick out another hour in the day.  However, by the time you get around to serving God you are so tired that you fall asleep!  You are so worn out, that He is getting leftovers!  The Bible says to offer the first fruits of your increase, not your leftovers!  God said that He wanted your best for your sacrifice, not your half baked, no account, “round to it” offering.  God has not been getting our best!

          You wonder why when you pray that nothing happens.  It is because you haven’t been giving anything to God!  You have no treasures stored up in heaven.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-20, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:”

          Have you given your time, your prayers, and, yes, your fasting?  Don’t fast television, that isn’t fasting.  That is deliverance.  The best thing that could ever happen is to get rid of that television.  That is getting the devil cast off your back. 

          I challenge you to not watch television for one week, and during that time spend time with God.  I don’t think that some can do it, because they are so hooked on that thing!  It is like a vein shooting up in your arm, an antenna in your artery!  We don’t want to sacrifice to God, and we don’t want to bless God; we want to be entertained!  They curse, and swear, and blaspheme the God that you are supposed to be serving, and you just go along with them. 

          You may say, Oh, I wish they would have just left that out; the show would have been better.  Why don’t you quit watching the filthy thing!  The church wonders why that there isn’t any power in the church today.  It is obvious if someone does not fast and pray. 

          Mark 16:17-18 says, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” 

          It is a miracle for a person to follow the greatest power in the universe, and that power not to be on him after a while!

          Let me give you an example.  Let’s say that our local electric plant in Joppa puts out multiplied billions of kilowatt hours of electricity every year.  If you have one little cord plugged into the side of that plant, and everything in that plant is coming down into that one little cord to your coffee pot, there is plenty of power to boil your coffee!  It would melt the can that it is in!  Oh, yeah, and make ashes out of it!  It would have plenty of power to burn it plum down.  Yet, the water is hardly even lukewarm!  Do you know what I think of lukewarm coffee?  Probably the same thing you do!

          Revelations 3:16, “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”  The connection was made!  The power was more than plenty, but they will not turn on the pot!  They won’t seek God!  Men don’t fear God!  If preachers don’t fear God, how are others going to fear God?  Some preachers spend hours and hours on specific subjects, but they will never tie up with the power to get men ready for the things that are coming!  They will talk about what is going to happen, but they don’t get the power to set men free to do something about what is going to happen!  They talk about the things of God. 

          When Jesus would teach, the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  When He would preach, the power of the Lord was present to deliver them.  Anytime that somebody wanted something from God, there was more than enough power to deliver, set free, and heal on the spot.  This is where I have been guilty, even though it is a noble thing to build a church building. 

          Many do not understand the administrative part of the ministry that takes much of your time.  There are meetings that you have to set up and attend.  There are phone calls that you have to make.  You have to make connections with the carpet people, the pew people, the lumber people, and other business persons.  We have to make orders here, and we have to go there.  All these things are legitimate items that consume your time, and these things in particular concern the work of the Lord. 

          Hours upon hours I have watched my wife go over the books, and there are times when she would like to throw it up in the air and let somebody else take care of it.  All the time knowing that there is not the commitment, she hangs her head down and prays to God to give her strength, and then she goes on.  It is a sacrifice. 

          We don’t have the opportunity to spend the time with our kids that you do, because we want to serve Jesus and see somebody else get saved!  That is why that it makes us troubled when somebody backs up on God!  We think about the stuff that we have put into it, but then God speaks to our hearts and says, YES, AND LOOK WHAT I HAVE PUT INTO IT.  I NAILED MY SON TO A TREE FOR THEM, AND THEY YET BACK UP ON ME!

          God has turned the world over to a “Round To It” god.  You have to break free of that thing.  God wants you free of it.  God is not a God of convenience.  Jesus wants to be in your life.  If you have to get up an hour earlier to get a hold of God, then do it.  The Bible says that God spoke to the world through His prophets, rising up early, and speaking.  You might miss your breakfast, but you had better not miss God!

          God still talks to His people.  Haggai 1:5 says, “Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”  Think about the way you live.  Verse 6-8 says, “Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.  Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.”

          Consider your ways.  That means to get into your prayer closet and pray!  Then get something from God to build a house of God in your life.

          Haggai 1:9 says, “Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.”  You have selfish ways!  Verse 10 says, “Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.”  Here is the curse of the “Round To It” god.  There is no revival, and there is no anointing.  There are almost no people coming into the church. 

          Verse 11 says, “And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.”  Don’t tell me that God won’t bring a drought on you!  There is a drought on the labor of your hands.  You work and you work, and it seems like all you do is just barely, barely, barely break even!  Why?  He has handed you over to a “Round To It” god.  You aren’t working for God; you are working for the “Round To It” god.  You say, When I get around to it I will pray, but right now I’m busy. 

          There are 66 books in the Bible.  One of the longest books in the Bible is Isaiah.  Evidently God talked to him, or he wouldn’t have had that much to write.  God still talks today.  I was praying, and the Lord dealt with me that man works all of his life, and struggles, and sweats, and finagles, and deals for the things that are temporal, but hardly even glances to the things that are eternal.

          Your body isn’t worth $2.50 for fertilizer, but you will feed that thing every conceivable thing that you can.  You plant yourself in a new car, or you put on the latest clothes, or you go to the latest ball game, or the latest concert, or eat the best foods, and you abstain from what you call a sacrifice. 

          The Lord has already told me to do something, so I will pass it on to you.  Check your budget!  See what you are paying your bills on.  See how much of your money is going toward luxuries rather than for necessities.  Some of you will find that the vast majority of your money is going for luxuries to please your flesh!  Some people go in debt, and then blow their brains out, because they cannot pay it.  Some will end up taking bankruptcy, because they are trying to please their flesh!

          Take a look around your house.  How many items do you see which are not necessities?  How much would you really save with today’s salary, if you weren’t out buying the latest gadgets, and the latest vehicles?  I’m not against improvements in life, but I’m talking about necessities, or things that are needful for the soul, and to touch other souls.  If you would concentrate on these things, and go on with God, you would find riches in God that you didn’t even know existed.

          Can you say, I’ll eat when I get around to it, but right now I am too busy serving the Lord!  I will get some sleep when I get around to it, but right now I’m too busy praying!  I will see things in the world, and hear about the latest news one of these days when I get time, but right now I’m too busy seeking God!

          Oh, that God’s people would serve Him!  Read this solution in Isaiah 55:1-3 which says, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.  Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”

          Are you thirsty?  The things of God are free, but the sacrifice is not!  Some work like a dog, and run to and fro, and yet they are not satisfied!  Paul says in Philippians 3:19, “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)”

          Look at Isaiah 55:6-7:  “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” 

          There is your solution.  A lot of people quote Verse 6 for the sinner, but that is for everybody!  You may say, Well, I have been seeking the Lord.  Then where is the anointing?  You need to pray through, and get real with God.  Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near, because he is not always near! 

          Sometimes God is on the other side of the universe.  Try letting your walk get slack, and see what you don’t feel.  There is no blessing, no joy, no peace, no hope, and no laughter in your life.  Hell is filled with people who have served the “Round To It” god, people who have procrastinated, and wouldn’t come clean with God.  People think that God doesn’t know where they are living, but He knows.   Let’s stay prayed up in the Lord.

Father, let every soul that reads this message be touched.  Convict every sinner and every backslider.  Deliver people from the “Round To It” god.  Satan, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command that which you have made to appear beautiful to turn to it’s true configuration.  I command the ugliness to be seen by the people; to see a devil for what he really is; to realize that lust caters to the flesh.  God, let people break loose and say, “I will pay that which I have vowed.  I will serve the Lord, and all things must bend the knee to God.  I will no longer serve a “Round To It” god.  I am coming clean, Jesus.”  I ask this in Jesus’ name.  Amen. 

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.