Living Hope Fellowship Church

TRADITIONS

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

TRADITIONS

Preface

(carnality)

          Your daily life shows if you are a child of God. When you come out of the world, there has to be a change in your life.  The power of God will rest in your life in due accordance to how your daily life is occupied. 

          Habits that have been formed over a period of time form a tradition.  Many people hear the word tradition and think of something a hundred years old or longer, but that’s not always the case.  A tradition can be formed after you start repeating something, and it becomes a habit.

          Some people are in a head long rush to find their own pleasure.  However, if they will get rid of tradition and self, then they will be delighting themselves in the Lord and He will give them the desires of their heart.

TRADITIONS

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

ABOUT WIGGLESWORTH 

          Let me tell you about an awesome man of God who was born in 1859 and died when he was 87 years old.  About fourteen people were raised from the dead during his ministry.  He prayed for a man who grew out a set of legs in front of the eyes of a shoe salesman in the store.  There were many awesome miracles by this man’s hands by the workings of the Lord.  There are some books that tell about his daily life.  That is where it builds up into the ministry.  Miraculous things can happen, but it’s more important how your daily life measures out. 

          If you are going to come out of the world, and out from the hands of the devil where you were previously headed for hell, and go into the hands of God, there has to be a change in your life.  Your daily life is what makes the difference for you as a child of God.  The power of God will rest in your life in due accordance to how your daily life is occupied.  The books written about Smith Wigglesworth’s daily life were popular because people sought to know wherein his great strength lay

HABIT, TRADITION, AND MANNER OF LIVING 

          In the Word of God, we find out more about daily life.  2 Timothy 3:10 says:  “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience.”  Verse 14 says, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.”  Verse 17 says, “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 

          Paul said that they knew his manner of life.  Manner of life can be described in another way as “tradition”.  Tradition, manner of life, and habits are all very kin in meaning.  Habits that have been formed over a period of time form a tradition.  Many people hear the word tradition and think of something a hundred years old or longer, but that’s not always the case.  A tradition can be formed after you start repeating something, and it becomes a habit in your manner of life.  If it’s not the manner or habit in your life to pray every day for a given amount of time, you find that you don’t have a tradition of prayer. 

          When Paul talked about doctrine here and about a manner of life, it wasn’t a bad word.  Jesus said in Matthew 16:6, “. . . Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”

          I Corinthians 5:6 says, “. . . Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”  A little bit of habit or tradition can take your whole life right down a straight road to any given direction without ever letting it veer one iota.  When you are born again (saved) your life is destined to change.  The first change is that Jesus will cause you to leave sin alone!  God called you to salvation, to be born again, washed in the blood of Jesus.  He calls you to be sanctified.  Your life must change, and you get closer to God, because the devil is out.  God never quits calling. 

          There are many habits, manners of life, and traditions in the lives of individuals and families, in churches, in whole regions, nations, and cultures that can actually keep you away from the things of God! 

          A habit is something that you might do on a daily basis.  Every morning you may get up and have a cup of coffee.  That is your daily routine, your habit.  Maybe there are things that you do in your family every year, perhaps around the holidays or someone’s birthday.  Then it is not a habit anymore, but a tradition.  How you live day to day, your way of living, is what Paul describes as a “manner of life”. 

          When you are born again your manner of life must change or you cannot remain born again.  Your manner of life must move away from the world and into the things of God.  You can lose your salvation by falling back into tradition.  Paul said (in other words), You know how I got this power. You know my doctrine, and you know why God confirms the words that I speak with signs following. 

          Timothy was one of Paul’s favorite understudies.  He was a young man in the faith who had a large church in Ephesus they tell us.  Paul wrote two books to him to teach him.  We also get great instructions on how to run the church from Paul’s letter to Timothy, (written under the anointing of the Holy Ghost).  Paul’s example was something that was constantly in front of his ministers and Christians at large.  His example was impeccable after God placed him in Christ, and he started doing great works in the Lord.  I believe he made it to perfection, but he didn’t say he attained it.  He said in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

SANCTIFICATION

          Folks, listen!  As you press toward the mark, it is accounted unto you for righteousness, and God looks to you as perfect, and He will receive you unto Himself now, or at the rapture, or on the day of your death.  You’ve got to understand that you can’t keep your same manner of living and go on deeper in God!  Some people have a delusion that it will just drop in on you one day, and you are suddenly changed.  There is absolutely no Bible for that.  Sanctification (being set apart from the world unto God) is a process. 

          You get born again when you call upon the name of the Lord.  Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  That is immediate; however, you still need to walk in perfection.  How do you do that?  God gave us His Word.  We are supposed to read and obey it and become set apart.  Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” 

          Daily tradition, daily habits, and daily manners of life must, must, must be changed!  You cannot continue in sin, after you’ve been born again.  The prostitute must stop sleeping around.  The adulterer must cease from adultery, and the thief must cease from stealing.  The curser must cease from cursing.  Anything wrong that a person did before he got born again, he has to stop doing. 

          However, there are still habits, weights, and other things that can get between us and God.  These things fight against the power of God in our lives and we’ve got to drop them also.  Paul was specific in Hebrews 12:1 when he said, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

          Habits, manners of life, and traditions of men can make the Word of God of none effect.  The Lord has given me great unction on this and it is the key to getting a hold of the great power of God in our lives.  The dedication that we must have toward the Lord cannot be mixed with normal living activity. 

FASTING

          As a matter of fact, in order to get some things from God you even have to cease from eating for a time.  Eating is a necessary habit; nevertheless, it is a tradition among men.  As desperately needed as eating is, God has set it apart for a time of fasting.  This is profitable for people who believe Him to make their hearts right with Him.  They can set aside time for fasting and prayer, so that they may receive the things that God has ordained for them that love him.  Some devils cannot be cast out unless someone breaks their normal routine, turns their plate over, and goes and prays, seeking the Lord without eating (see Mark 9:29).

          As we begin to break our own traditions, habits, and normal manner of life, and quit doing what we always want to do, we go into the deeper things of God.  If you do a little, you get a little in the kingdom.  If you do a little more, you get a little more in the kingdom.  Luke 12:48 says, “. . . For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. . . .”  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.”  In other words, if you put a lot in it, you are going to get more out of it. 

          We desire to move in God’s presence!  Folks, the world needs Jesus, but the church needs a change first, because the judgment of God begins at the house of God!  The house of God must be cleansed and straightened out so they can go do the works of Jesus and bring great revival before the rapture of the church. 

THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME

          Mark 7:5-6 says, “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

          You will find that your tradition and manner of life generally follow your heart pattern.  Mark 7:7 says, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”  That lets us know that there are people in the church whose worship, praise, hallelujahs, shouting, crying, and altar nosing is doing them no good at all, because they refuse to let go of their daily routine.  God gets in the way of their tradition. 

          Tradition is not just something out of Pentecost, out of Pharisee-ism, or Sadducee-ism, or something out of Methodists, or Baptists.  One of the traditions of men is “religion.”  Teaching the commandments of men for doctrine can be called a “religion.”  The commandments of God are yea and amen to all that believe (see 2 Corinthians 1:20).  God will confirm his Word with signs following in the true church.  God will move among His true people.  God didn’t speak commandments of men, and therefore they are of none effect.

          Mark 7:8 says, “For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.”  Many people lay aside God’s commandments. 

          There is a commandment to fast and pray.  Jesus commanded the disciples to fast in Mark 2:20, “But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” 

SLEEP

          We are called and commanded to fast and pray.  1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”  Many people lay aside the commandments of God that they might keep their tradition.  God speaks to them in the middle of the night and tells them to get up and pray.  That’s a commandment of God, but we have a normal tradition, and we say, O Lord, you know I can’t stay up late.  You know that by ten o’clock I’m a zombie, so there is no way that you can wake me up at 12:00.  I might be able to struggle through once every so often and make it from 10:00 to 12:00, but don’t wake me up at 12:00 because I’m already into my slumber. 

          There are other people who are night owls and they say, Oh Lord, that’s the best time to talk to me, but don’t talk to me at 7:00 in the morning.  Someone says, “I’m a night owl.”  Someone else says, I’m a day person.  Now talk to me at 7:00 in the morning; I love to get up early.  That’s when you can talk to me.  I’ll be fresh as a daisy then.  Would you lay that aside?  Some would say, No way!  This is my normal habit.  They lay aside the commandment of God that they might keep their tradition.  God may want to talk at 5:00 in the morning.  It is too early for the early people, and too late for the late people.  He will come to you at an hour that you aren’t even aware of!  (See Matthew 24:50).        

          I hear young people today that say, I’m born again, but I’ve got a few wild oats to sow.  The Bible says in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  I don’t care if you are young or old.

MUSIC

          You can become devil possessed listening to certain music.  You can become devil possessed watching television.  You can become devil possessed just listening to something, or watching something, and lusting after something.

LUST

          You don’t have to always DO something to be damned for it.  You can believe a lie and be damned.  Jesus said there was a man who walked about that just lusted after women.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

          If your heart is not right when you stand before the judgment seat of God, you will be condemned to hell.  You might tell God, Oh, but I’ve never touched a woman, but God looks on the heart, not on the outward appearance. 

          Look at what he says again in Mark 7:7-8, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of

men. . . .”  You hold on to tradition.  You hold on to your habits.  There are things that some have been raised in the tradition of doing, and they are not going to veer from their schedule one iota!  They say, If God speaks to us, it had better be before 11:30 in the Sunday morning service!  We don’t even like to leave as late as 12:00!   

VAIN WORSHIP

          You form habits in your life.  If prayer isn’t one of them, you are already vain in some areas of your life.  God says in Mark 7:9, “And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”  Now look at Verse 13: “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” 

          Your traditions, habits, lusts, and wants make the Word of God of none effect in your life.  God refuses to confirm your words with signs following, even if it is according to His scripture.  God will not honor your tradition, or tradition in the church world.   

TRADITION 

          I saw a movie one time called Fiddler on the Roof.  It was about a Jewish family, and all the things that went on.  One of the songs in the movie was called Tradition.  This classic movie has been portrayed on Broadway and elsewhere.  They sang the song Tradition all through the movie at different times.  There was no explanation for it.  It didn’t matter if they had to examine something, and it didn’t add up.  They would just say, Well, that’s just the way we do it.  They would just start singing, “TRA - DI - TION!!!”

          If God spoke to some people in the middle of the night, and they heard him, they might look up and say, Is that you, God?  What if God said, “I want you to get up and pray.”?  Would they say, “TRA - DI - TION!!!” and then out they would go, back to sleep?  Maybe you’ve got a habit of fasting twice in a week every week in your life.  Do you know that the Pharisees did that much?  Oh, I tithe everything I’ve got.  Do you know that the Pharisees did that much?  Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

WITCHCRAFT

          Some people say, I can’t go to prayer meeting; I’ve got other things going on.  Prayer is the source and the key to the power of God.  If you’re not praying, then you’ve got no power with God.  You might be able to mouth, and you might be able to rattle, but if you aren’t prayed up, prayed through, and prayed into the things of God, what you are doing is the operation of witchcraft and the working of the flesh, because you have kept your tradition. 

          It’s in the Word.  One of the works of the flesh is witchcraft, which can manifest a certain amount of signs, and the church is full of it today.  Your tradition is that which you want to do.  Paul took it a step further and said in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” 

THIRD GEAR CHAIR 

          We have our own schedules, plans, and ways.  You may say, Brother Kevin, I’ve got to work for a living.  God can talk to you at work, but what about after work?  Bless God, when I get home I’m going to sit down in my chair and put it up in third gear, and I’m going to turn on that box and relax, and just let it flow.  Many do this, and not only is that acceptable among men, but it is highly esteemed among men.

          Now, I have a TV set.  If you are tired, and you sit down to relax, all of a sudden God may begin to deal with you saying, “I want you to come apart with me, child.  I’ve got something I want to deal with you about.”  Maybe none of you have had that, because He couldn’t get your attention!  Maybe He did draw you, and talk with you, and said, “I want you to turn that off.  I want you to go into the prayer closet.”  Did you say, But, God, you know it’s after work; I just got in, and I’m worn out.  I’ve done this, and I’ve done that.  Oh, the great things you have done!

          At the same time we come to the altar and say, Oh, God, I want to see great things in my life, and I want you to move in my life, Lord.  I want to see this one healed, and that one delivered, and I want revival.  God wants to know what you have been doing to get it!  You must break out of your own tradition if you want the power of God in your life!

CROSS DAILY

          Jesus even went so far as to say in Luke 9:23,

“. . . If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”  God said to take up your cross daily. 

          Sleep belongs to me, and if I don’t get my seven and a half or ten hours of sleep, well, God doesn’t have a right to that.  I mean, He doesn’t want me unhealthy and nervous.  God doesn’t want bags under my eyes.  God wants fire in your hands so you can lay hands on somebody and cast the devil out!  We’ve got to break tradition. 

DUMB AS A HOG

          Churches are made up of people.  Tradition in the church is made up of laziness, selfishness, and worldliness.  It gets nowhere with God.  It is not pleasing to God, and it will never bring revival.  We need to change or else we will fail.  We have no discipline.  Tests in school now are made easier and easier so that anybody can pass them, but when the students get out in the work force, they are as dumb as hogs.  People die because of their failure and ignorance at their jobs.  It’s the truth.  We cater to laziness and tradition.  We cater to self; self gets in the way; it dominates.  For some, their belly is their god, and not God. 

          Look at this thing again in Mark 7:13, “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”  Why is the Word of God of none effect for some?  Why isn’t the power of God in your life?  It is because you are holding your own tradition.  We think God has to do it within a certain time frame, manner, or person, or it isn’t going to get done.   

          One time the Lord told me to fast and I said, God, I’m working.  I can’t do this and that.  Forget it.  I got down and was praying sometime later and said, God, I’ve got a need here.  The Lord told me to forget it!  I said, God, your Word says that I can have whatsoever I ask.  He reminded me that he had asked me to fast some time ago.  All the promises of God in Jesus Christ are yea and amen to them that believe, but a sign of believers is not just signs following, but FIRST, people breaking with their own personal traditions.

PUT GOD FIRST

          You must put God first.  If you don’t change, don’t expect any more from God.  Don’t expect your family to be saved, and don’t expect a holy household.  Don’t expect the great ministry God called you to, because you will never have it.  Oh, God promised it, and He’s got to bring it.  Salvation is conditional, and so is everything else.

          You may say, Well, it’s just not my habit.  When I’m tired I don’t feel like praying.  That’s when God may talk to you.  I’m hungry.  That’s when God may put you on a fast.  We find that if it’s supplied by fish afterward, church attendance is pretty regular.  What if all of a sudden the preacher stood up and said, The Lord said if we want revival throw the fish out on the ground, and let’s all pray this duration.  Do you know what would happen?  People would reach over and get their belly full if they could right quickly, and then go to praying. 

          I’ve had the food in my mouth and had to spit it out when He spoke to me to fast.  Tradition is normal.  Sin is normal.  Revival is the breaking of the normal.  Revival is supernatural!           

          Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  It’s normal to be tempted, and it is normal to sin.  It’s normal to be fought by the devil, but Jesus Christ has made a way so that you can be born again.  You don’t have to be a slave to sin.  You don’t owe the devil your life, so don’t walk like the devil.  You can be set free and live like Jesus.  Not only that, you can have the ministry like Jesus. 

          Some people say, I can go this far, and no farther, because I’ve got things that I’ve got to do.  God, you know that it’s not good if I don’t get that done.  We should spend all the time praying that we now spend arguing with God and dreaming up excuses. 

          God does not save you so that you can live a normal life.  The only way that you are kept in Christ is by living an abnormal life.  If you are not continuing to press into the deep things of God then you could lose your salvation.  This is where the church has failed.  We’ve fallen into complacency, normalcy.  We come in and get saved, we get filled with the Holy Ghost, and we sit down and ride it out.  That’s not going by the Bible. 

THE FIRST CHURCH

          The first church was an abnormal group of people.  God even called them peculiar.  People got healed.  They didn’t hold to tradition anymore or walk like they used to.  I know a form of transportation that’s faster than an “F16 Tom Cat” off of a flight carrier.  It’s called “translation”, where in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (which has been said to be approximately seven millionths of a second) you can get from one place to another. 

HOLINESS

          The Lord wants to deal with us about holiness.  People don’t even understand the word love.  For many, the term “love” is spelled L-U-S-T.  It is not the same thing.  It is as far as the East is from the West, as far as Satan and Christ are apart.  People who don’t know the difference don’t have the light.            If you keep your tradition, you won’t know a thing about the things of God, and frankly, you won’t care. 

          Luke 16:14 says, “And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.”  They made fun of him.  The church fought Jesus, and they are doing it today.  Look at what Jesus says in Verse 15-16, “And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.  The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” 

          The only way to press into the kingdom of God, going deeper into the things of God, is to change your life style by breaking with your tradition.  God doesn’t force anybody to do that.  Don’t fight God to keep a tradition in your heart.  You may feel it is your right to keep it, but if you do, you are going to lose what God has for you.  There may be something that you want, but you will wish a million times that you had never gotten it if what you are going after is not of the Lord. 

SEEK GOD FIRST

          Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

          Seek God FIRST!  Seek God before you seek your tradition, and then things will be added.  Don’t seek all these things and then later say, OK.  God, I’ve got my thing done, and I’m ready for what you’ve got for me.  You will never get it!  God can save anybody, but if you fight Him He will leave you alone.  A sinner can fight God and go to hell and so can a Christian. 

          That Christian can become more hardened in his heart than a sinner.  He knows how to fight God.  He will use God’s Word against Him.  You can name and claim, but God wants something better.  He has something for you, but He wants you to wait on Him.  I can’t tell you how important that is.

          You may say, Oh, but I’ve got something started.  If there is something that you need to get out of, get out of it what ever it costs you in order to obey God.  That includes people who have started relationships that God wants stopped.  Another example is someone who has opened their mouth when they shouldn’t have.  There are many ways people can get themselves out on thin ice.  They say, How can I go back now?  I’ve gone too far.

          That’s a lie of the devil!  He tells sinners that, and he will tell Christians who have backslid that.  You’ve gone too far, so you might as well go all the way, or You’ve done this already so you might as well just go ahead and get the whole ball of wax.  No! 

          Come out!  2 Corinthians 6:17 says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”          

          We give God our worst.  People like to give their youth, their loveliness, comeliness, intelligence, and lives over to the devil, the flesh, and the world.  Then when they are about 85 years old (or on their death bed) they say, OK God, I’m ready for you.  Seek God FIRST.

WAGES 

          Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  The devil pays wages, and the pay is death.  Popularity and sin last for a season, but you will pay the wages.  You will look like him.

          We make plans, but do we first ask God if these things are His will?  People have come up to me and said, Oh, pray that “this” will be God’s will.  In two weeks’ time they are already doing it.  I never got a word from God for them, and they never got a word.  They just started doing it, and since God didn’t stop them they think it must be all right!  God didn’t stop Pharaoh and his chariots either, until He got them out in the middle of the water where He could ambush them.  Then he jerked their wheels off! 

          A lot of people right now are in the middle of the dry ground, not knowing collapse is about to happen.  They are in a dead run, right where they shouldn’t be, but God’s fixing to draw the line and say, “That’s it!  No more!”  IF God jerks off the chariot wheels, you are dead!

THEY WALKED OUT

          One time a young woman and a young man were sitting in the old section of the church.  I was preaching that Jesus said you must be born again.  I don’t care what religion or tradition says.  I don’t care if you can repeat vain words and rattle beads.  That is not being born again.  Jesus’ words take precedence over man’s traditions.   Billions of people are going to hell in “religion”, because they refuse the truth.  They accept man’s tradition over God’s Word, and it makes salvation of none affect to them.  He can’t save them because they don’t believe Him. 

          The young people were living together, and were about to be married.  Some people think that when you live together and then get married, it makes it all right.  There is no Bible for that.  Getting married doesn’t make fornication or adultery right; it just makes you married.  Fornication or adultery will send you to hell.  Being born again washes sin away, and then you’re all right. 

          These young people were sitting in the service.  That young man was crying from conviction, but he didn’t want her to see it, because that wasn’t masculine.   

          Luke 16:23 says, “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”  He was crying.  Verse 24 says, “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”  That man wept and wept. 

          I watched the couple walked out.  It was everything that he could do to go that direction, because God was actually, almost physically dragging him to the altar, but he didn’t do it.  She stared at me in hatred, as if to say, How dare you meddle!  When you preach to a young couple that is living like that, the preacher is considered to be meddling in their sex life, because the man will go home and won’t be able to perform for her.  He’s under the conviction of God, because sin is on them, and he knows it. 

          That couple left the building without God.  Two weeks later I heard that the young man’s truck was hit broadside by a semi, and he was killed on the spot.  He went to hell.  God says if you are not born again you will go to hell.  Jesus said in Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”  I don’t condemn them to hell, but I can tell you where they go according to the Word, as any other Christian with enough nerve would do. 

THAT’S NOT THE WAY WE DO IT

          It is a strange thing for people to think that they can get their life right before they come to the Lord!  That is stupid.  If you could get your life right before you come to the Lord, then you wouldn’t need the Lord.  The devil is lying to you again, making a fool out of you.  God wants to set every captive free, but we have to get rid of our habits, our ways, and our traditions.  People may tell you, That’s not the way we do it.  If your way was according to the work of the Lord, you’d see revival.

          When the Word of God becomes of none affect in the believer’s life, the devil (a spirit of anti-Christ that’s in the earth) will bring a strong delusion that they will believe that they are going God’s way, to make sure that they don’t deviate from their path.  He will bring you blessings, or money, or the individual that you want, or things, and religion.  The main thing is to get and to keep you comfortable in your tradition, making sure that you feel just fine.  It’s amazing; people go by how they feel.  Some people just can’t wait, so they go ahead and do something, rather than waiting upon the Lord.  However, when they jump across that line, God is not there! 

          Paul said they knew his manner of life, that he lived holy.  That is how he could lay hands on the sick and they recovered, and how he cast out devils.   

          Have you ever stopped and wondered what your purpose is?  What are you in this world for?  Contrary to TV advertisements, you are not here just to get all you can.  We have a space of time in this life that we can call upon the name of the Lord, young or old.  Then we break with tradition. 

MATTHEW, CHAPTER 25

          Folks, we can’t live a normal life and expect a supernatural move of God in the altar call.  We can’t live a normal life and expect a supernatural ministry.  Some people believe that everybody in the church is going to rapture when the trumpet sounds, but there is NO Bible for this.  You can’t get saved just whenever you want to either (see John 6:44).  The Christian who is not living right with God doesn’t rapture.  Five virgins were wise and five were foolish according to the scriptures found in Matthew 25:1-13. 

          There is no way you can get around Matthew, Chapter 25.  Some held with tradition; some pressed on, got out of tradition, and went on with God.  Those are the people who will go in the rapture.  Do you think that people who don’t even know about translation are going to translate?  People who don’t believe in healing aren’t going to have a healing service.  Some preachers will eat you up if you dare pray for the sick or even have an altar call in their church service.  Well, that’s not the way we do it.

          Do you know how bad it is for a young man who is called into the ministry, after knowing this?  He looks around trying to find examples.  When I first came back to God, most of my time was used muddling through the muck of religion in the lukewarm as well as the Pentecostal ranks.  It took me longer in the Pentecostals because they have more devices.  I thought, Well, so and so does it. 

          Is there anything that you would hide or turn off if a preacher came into your house at any given moment?  How many of you could waltz right in, fresh from prayer, if he came to talk to you about the things of God?  Is there anything?  Do you know that God has been watching all the time?  We wonder why the Word of God is of none effect, and why we don’t have revival.                                                        

DELIGHT THYSELF

          You all may say that it’s a high calling, and it is.  The church has lowered their standard.  You cannot resist the devil until you have first been submitted to God.  There is a scripture that we all like to quote, and it is found in Psalm 37:4:  “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  Lots of people just like to shorten it and say that he will give you the desires of your heart, but you had better put the other part back on, because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked according to Jeremiah 17:9.  It is even more wicked than the devil, because you may not believe the devil, but you will believe yourself. 

          Found in  Isaiah 58:13-14 are the qualifications for delighting yourself in the Lord: “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” 

          Some people are in a head long rush to find their own pleasure, and they will speak their own words in the name of the Lord.  Get rid of tradition and self; then you will be delighting yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  If you don’t do it this way the devil will give you the desires of your heart, and it will be according to Jeremiah, deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and you will regret it for eternity.

GOD IS CALLING

          God is calling and dealing with Christians, sinners and backsliders.  Some backsliders don’t know they are backslid.  There must be some changes.  You can let go of what you are in.  It is not too late.  I appeal to you; I beg you.  It’s not too late. 

          I’ve already gone to the way of the world.  There is no way.  No.  You’re still alive, and you’re still breathing, and God still loves you.  He wants you to come to Him.  But I’m so young.  There are a lot of years left.  That’s right, and you can give them to God instead of the devil, and God will bless you. 

          Christians may say, I’ve made a fool of myself.  People might think that I’m crazy.  It might cause people to backslide if they see what condition I’m really in.  If they see you come clean, it could be that some of them will come clean also!  Please consider what the Lord said in His Word about delighting yourself in the Lord.

          If you will seek first the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness, good things will be added to you!  Seek the Lord first!

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.