|
.
Living
Hope Fellowship Church
UNSHAKABLE
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
UNSHAKABLE
Preface
(overcome the devil, be strong in God)
We get in a hurry, but
the next time you get impatient with God, remember that even
when it’s too late by our standard, God is always on time.
It was His purpose that
Lazarus died, so that He could raise him up again. It is
His purpose that you and I die to self, so He can raise us
up in the image of Christ!
Have you wondered if
God saw your tears and heard your prayers? God will
cause you to go through the fire, and the heat brings the
crud to the top! Religion tries to hide it, but if
you want to go on with God, do what HE TELLS YOU to do!
To go deeper into the
things of God, there must be a purging and a shaking. God
is getting us ready to do His works. God needs to establish
us in His faith, so we can have total victory. God has
called us to a great ministry, and we must be able to stand
unshakable in the presence of the enemy!
UNSHAKABLE
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
In a split second God can change your mind, your attitude,
and your situation. He can take you from a hell bound
sinner to a heaven bound saint!
A lot of people think that God is too late, or
that God is so slow He is going to be late. They
thought Jesus coming to Lazarus’ tomb three days after he
died was too late, but Jesus raised him from the dead!
We are always in a hurry, saying Help me NOW, Lord.
Remember the next time that you get impatient with God that
He never comes too late. Even when it’s too late by our
standard, God is always on time.
It was His purpose that Lazarus died, so that He could raise
him up again. It is His purpose that you and I die to self,
so He can raise us up again in the image of Christ!
Paul wrote a letter to Timothy. Timothy was down on his
face praying, because he had a tremendous load put on him,
and he was fearful. Timothy was dear to Paul, and he called
him his own beloved son in the faith. He was converted
after his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice had come
in.
1 Timothy 1:1-4 says, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by
the will of God, according to the promise of life which is
in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace,
mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with
pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of
thee in my prayers night and day; Greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with
joy;” [Here is a case where we see knowledge operating. How
else did he know that Timothy was crying?]
Verse 5-12 says, “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned
faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee
also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up
the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my
hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of
power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou
therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me
his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the
gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel: Whereunto I am appointed a
preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless
I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day.”
Paul said God has not given us the spirit of fear. One of
the greatest fears we have is that God is going to be LATE.
God has forgotten me. God doesn’t hear. God isn’t going
to do it in time. God is late again. Hurry up! Hurry up!
Hurry up! That is partly the spirit of fear, partly
unbelief, and partly dread!
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of
fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
However, when unbelief creeps in, you start losing
your joy, your power, and your love. Things get confused,
and you start losing your sound mind. You get irritable.
Paul called himself a prisoner. Paul spent a lot of time in
jail for nothing more than healing and delivering people,
and for preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Timothy was one of the ministers of a large church at
Ephesus. The Ephesian people were very devoted to the pagan
goddess named Diana. It is recorded in Chapter 19 of the
book of Acts how they praised their goddess for two hours.
This young preacher was ministering in a tough region. Paul
had laid hands on him to receive the baptism of the Holy
Ghost. Now he was trying to encourage him.
Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, First and Second Timothy
in the Bible. They tell us quite a bit on how to operate a
church, leadership and behavior in a church, and how to have
full proof of your ministry. Both of them are great for
people who minister in any form, particularly pastors. I
have received instruction from God and encouragement from
these letters.
Paul loved Timothy and prayed for him without ceasing. 1
Corinthians 15:32 says, “If after the manner of men I have
fought with beasts at Ephesus. . . .” Paul fought spiritual
principalities and powers for the sake of Timothy and the
church there. A great man of God was working for another
great man of God. However, Timothy didn’t know that he was
a great man of God yet. He thought strange and fiery trials
were besetting him, and he thought something impossible was
facing him!
A believer is someone who is with God. Luke 1:37
says, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” If
you are a believer, all things are possible to you.
Mark 9:23 says, “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth.”
Timothy was crying, and praying, and seeking God, and
Paul’s letter came. That lets us know that God is mindful
of our tears. Paul penned and signed the letter, but the
Holy Ghost wrote it, and it is part of the Word of God
today!
God told King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:5, “. . . I have heard
thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. . . .” Have you wondered
if God saw your tears and heard your prayers? Are you in a
hurry for God? It seems that He is so sloooow sometimes,
but we know that God is not feeble and that He is ALWAYS on
time.
In 2 Timothy 1:10 Paul said that Jesus Christ abolished
death. Jesus abolished the workings of death, but
those who are impatient, fearful, or unbelieving will not
renew their strength! Paul was trying to encourage Timothy
that even though he was going through a valley and a shadow
of death, he needed to continue to believe the Lord. It is
self crucifixion whenever you aren’t getting your way, and
what you do get is slow about coming!
Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall
renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as
eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall
walk, and not faint.”
Paul said the body that he lived in fought him. He said his
mentality warred against him. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. (See Romans 8:7.) It fights the laws of God
and the promises of God. Your natural flesh always tries to
pull you aside, trying to divert you. It is good at it,
because we listen to us better than we listen to anybody.
Look at some of the things that Paul went through, found in
2 Corinthians, Chapter 6 - discouragement, and despair, and
fear, and anger, and strife, and resentment. All of these
things come to the top when you are trying to die to self.
When you turn up the heat to refine lead, any crud in the
pot gets stirred up and comes to the top. The first thing
you see therefore is not beautiful, but vile.
When the heat is turned up in your life, the crud comes out
first. When it comes to self crucifixion, the Lord allows
you to be tried. James 1:3 says, “Knowing this, that the
trying of your faith worketh patience.”
Your faith must be tried! When you nail up a wall to a
house, do you try it to see if it shakes? When you work on
an automobile, you drive it up and down the road to see if
it is really fixed. You try a new vehicle to see what it
will do. A seamstress will sew up a stitch and then give it
a tug to see if it will hold.
God puts faith in your soul, and He will cause you to go
through things to see if you are going to keep the crud or
throw it away. There is a fire, and purging brings things
to the top! The first thing that you start seeing about
yourself is trash! That stuff has got to be burned.
Religion stirs it in with the rest and keeps it hid.
However, when you get in your prayer closet and seek God, it
will come to the top. Skim it off, go on with God, and do
what He tells you to do!
We have to choose. Matthew 6:24 says, “No man can serve two
masters. . . .” We have to let the Lord move it on out!
Then God turns up the heat some MORE, and goes to stirring
it, and some more crud comes up that you didn’t know was
there! It is a little more refined, and some would call it
acceptable crud.
Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life!
Some will try to make you believe that you can have Him
and some sin, but the Bible says that straight and
narrow is the way!
People believe that there is a broader way than that. They
don’t think that they need to be purged by the fire. One
time a lady told me that she didn’t believe it was
necessary to get on your knees and bawl before God. I told
her, Well, I don’t know as you need to plan it, but if
I’m trying to get something from God, and nothing happens,
then I get on my knees and pray, and I might even bawl and
squall for a while. The longer He takes, and the more heat
He puts on me, and the more stirring I get in my soul, the
more junk comes out! Then I start bawling about that!
Real prayer makes you thankful for God’s
forgiveness after He shows you how much trash was in there!
Let God purge you, and then renounce it as it comes out.
Let go of your plans; God has a better way.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 says, “For God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be
of God, and not of us.”
We were dark, carnal, and worldly minded. Yet, we have a
treasure in earthen vessels that God has to bring forth, so
there has to be a shaking out and a stirring up so that the
testimony of the Lord will shine out of us. God lights a
fire under us, but we have to let God work on us. Just
because it takes a while to come out doesn’t mean that it
isn’t going to.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 says, “We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed;” This is Paul’s testimony, but he didn’t tell
Timothy, because Timothy had his own problems. He told the
Corinthians this, because by this time they had gotten some
maturity and were able to pray! Notice that he waited until
the second letter before he told them!
Timothy had to do some growing up. When you tell someone
your difficulties, do they have to top it? That is how
Christians council one another nowadays. One will say,
Oh, I’m having a hard time, and they will name a few
things. Another person will say, Well, if you think that
is bad. . . ! Paul didn’t do that to Timothy.
Look at the kind of life he led in Verse 10: “Always bearing
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”
We want the life of Jesus to be manifest - the miracles, the
blessings, the joy, the peace, the satisfaction, the faith.
In order to have that, you first have to manifest the death
of Jesus. People will say, Look at all they are
enduring, and they are still standing for God, before
they say, There is a child of God! Look what God is
doing in their life.
When you are going through the valley of the shadow of
death, and you still have all confidence in God, and you’re
walking and living it, then it’s in your soul. Jesus said
in John 16:33, “. . . In the world ye shall have
tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world.”
Romans 6:16 says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?”
When you overcome, it’s not just the joy of humanity being
touched by God, it is literally Jesus living in this flesh
for you. Some people serve themselves one day and God the
next. Some believe God one minute, and not the next. God
wants to replace us entirely, and then it will be the new
creature in Christ having joy in the Lord.
The transition needs to take place before you run into
trouble of great magnitude. He won’t put more on you than
you can bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us, “There hath no
temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a
way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
2 Corinthians 4:11 says, “For we which live are alway
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” He
wants the life of Christ manifest in our mortal flesh so
these mortal hands can lay hands on people and impart life,
and healing, and deliverance.
2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “For which cause we faint not; but
though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day.” Your outward man is more than your physical
body. It is also your reputation, and who you are in
appearance - the person you project. That is the outward
man that people normally see as years go by.
The only way for the inward man to be renewed day by day is
for the old man to pass away, and that is crucifixion.
2 Corinthians 4:17 describes what we are going through:
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory;”
It is called a light affliction. When they told Jesus that
Lazarus was dead it was no big deal. When Jesus came to the
casket of the widow’s son, it was a light affliction. Some
things are too big for us, but we mistakenly put them over
in the category that they are too big for God. Luke 18:27
says, “. . . The things which are impossible with men are
possible with God.”
Romans 8:31 says, “. . . If God be for us, who can be
against us?” In light of that understanding, the Bible says
that your light afflictions are working for you.
Paul said in Acts 20:23, “. . . bonds and
afflictions abide me,” but, praise the Lord, Psalm 34:19
says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the
LORD delivereth him out of them all.”
We get angry and say, God, get me out of this, but
God says, Die! We say, God, you are killing me!
He says, Amen. Go ahead and die! Do you
understand? Timothy was down, and he said, I can’t do
it! God says that He has a greater work for you. It is
Christ in you the hope of Glory!
Our light affliction is working glory for us. Look at Job.
The devil nearly destroyed him. His wife got in his face
and cursed him. His children were killed. His property,
lands, and possessions were destroyed, but when God got done
with him, the man wasn’t afraid of anything! Before his
afflictions he said in Job 3:25, “For the thing which I
greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid
of is come unto me.”
Some say, God, do You have any idea what I have given up
for you? Do You have any idea what I could be doing if You
weren’t hindering me? Do You have any idea of the money I
could be making if You weren’t interfering? However, do
you have any idea of the hell you could be burning in if He
hadn’t bought you? We think we give more.
Everybody needs God. Nobody has given up more than they
should. We will give up everything sooner or later to go on
with God. He said our light affliction is but for a
moment! Compare that to eternity. When pressure and
tribulations come, some people say, God, I’m going to
give up. I’m going to backslide! NO! Don’t do that!
These things come to crucify you! The devil may come and
tell you that you can’t make it, but set your sights on
Jesus, and heaven, and do what God says anyway! Your faith
will hold you fast.
The working of death is anything that you can count as
failures in this flesh. Paul cried out and said in Romans
7:24, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?” In other words, Who shall
deliver me from this carnal nature, this earth bound
mentality of failure, self-will, selfishness, and everything
unlike God? He goes on to say in Verse 25, “I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. . . .”
Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me.
The Lord Jesus always did the will of the Father.” He never
did the will of Jesus of Nazareth. God wants you and me to
get in the same place. The only way that we can do the will
of the Lord God Almighty is through the person of His Son
Jesus Christ.
God in His mercy and grace said He was going to give you
something to hold on to even though you can’t see it yet; it
is called faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen.”
There is no manifestation, no answered promise, no amen of
God yet, but this faith is what holds you to it until it
becomes a reality, until it becomes a fact, and until you
can see it with your eyes!
Because we can’t see what we are looking for, the old nature
aggravates. The old man is impatient and doesn’t want to do
it this way. The new man is looking right at it. Have you
ever been praying for a given thing, and God gave you a
vision in the Spirit? As we walk in the Kingdom of God in
the Spirit, faith makes a contact with us, and we can see
that which is eternal. The more you walk in the Spirit, the
more the natural part of you begins to operate in the
Spirit.
When you receive Christ as Savior and Lord, He comes in and
dwells in you. He is the hope of glory in you. When Jesus
is crowned King by the anointed power of God through the
baptism Holy Ghost, He gives you power to become a son of
God and to shed the old nature. Then Christ will stand up
in you. After you die to self you are able to do the works
that He did!
This is why sanctification is so important. This is
why you have such a battle between your ears! That which is
between your ears is fighting everything under your ribs,
because you don’t believe with your mind, you believe with
your heart. Believe the Word of God.
All things are possible to you, even things that you cannot
see! God will give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a
heart to understand things that don’t even exist in this
realm. He will quicken your mortal body by His Spirit, and
you can accomplish spiritual things in this mortal body.
You will be casting out devils, healing the sick, and
raising the dead.
Eternal life from God will flow freely through you,
and it is more powerful than death, hell, and the grave.
The anointing of the Spirit breaks the yoke. If you are
feeling a little lively, fast a little while. It will get
you down low enough where you don’t feel so much vim and
vigor. Pray all night, and then go to work. It will take
all the you out of it, and you will realize you have
to walk by faith to get through that day.
Paul went through many things, but he wasn’t in despair. I
know some people that if you look at them cross-eyed, they
are immediately melancholy. If somebody is walking in the
Spirit you can’t insult them! You can slap them on the
cheek, and they will give you the other one, because they
could care less what is happening to their physical body or
their reputation. SELF cares about those things and must be
crucified.
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.”
Maybe you have seen glimpses in the Spirit when you’ve
prayed. Perhaps you have had dreams or visions. Still we
must rely on faith, because it is the bridge between the
natural and the supernatural realms.
Hebrews 11:4-6 says, “By faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts:
and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch
was translated that he should not see death; and was not
found, because God had translated him: for before his
translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
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.”
There is a great warfare when you are making the transition
from natural to the Spiritual. You don’t want to leave the
natural, because that is where you’re comfortable, and it is
where you can control some things. When you go into the
Spirit you are out of control.
Hebrews 12:12-13 says, “Wherefore lift up the hands which
hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for
your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way;
but let it rather be healed.” Part of you can’t or won’t
go, but keep on going, because faith by the Spirit of God
will carry you through.
Hebrews 12:22 says, “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and
to an innumerable company of angels,” Verse 26-27 says,
“Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised,
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but
also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth
the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may
remain.”
Things are tested by shaking to see if they are
unshakable! When you go to pray for somebody for a miracle,
and your faith has been tested and found unshakable, you
won’t have any doubt in your mind that God will perform a
miracle.
The devil can’t steal something that isn’t there! If God
isn’t working, then why would the devil even come around?
When you believe God is going to do something, God will
honor it. God will allow some things to see if you will
move by faith.
God wants eternal things to remain in you, so He is going to
shake you through and through, to shake out all of the
things that can be shaken. The things that can be shaken
come to the top, and we will grab after them like a kid
after candy. We didn’t realize it was in there! We’re
ashamed, and we try to hide it. Some of us think it is part
of us, and we’re losing our identity!
Hebrews 12:28 says, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:” The
people in God’s kingdom cannot be moved, and they cannot be
shaken loose. They stand steadfast and firm. Verse
29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire.” If you
are going to get closer to God, you are going to be
consumed.
The only way for unshakable, eternal things to be manifested
is to remove by shaking those things that block the vision
of glory. The only way to have that which you are believing
God for in your life and in those around you, is for God to
purge it out of you, and it is a painful experience. We
feel like we have a right to stay like we are. After all,
other people don’t have such a shaking going on. Some
people aren’t going on in God, either. To go deeper into
the things of God, there is going to be a purging, and a
shaking, and a trying, but God will have a perfect work.
James 1:3-4 says, “Knowing this, that the trying of your
faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
When you ask God to heal a neighbor, He will start purging
you, so you can go over and heal them! We want God to do it
through intercession, but there are times when God says that
He wants it done personally. Sometimes they need a witness,
and God says that we are His witnesses. They need to know
God did it!
God is purging and perfecting us, getting us ready to do His
works. 1 Peter 5:10 says, “But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you.”
God needs to establish us in His faith, so we can have total
victory. We must realize that all things work together for
our good. God has called us to a great ministry, and I pray
that He will give us that perfect work, in the name of
Jesus.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY
LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O.
BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL 62941
CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541
E-mail
livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net
These condensed Bible
studies have been published to help new Christians in their
new walk with the Lord. Kevin Badgley, the author, is the
pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.
This is a Living Hope
Fellowship publication.
©
Living Hope Fellowship, Inc.
|
