Living Hope Fellowship Church

WIDOW’S GIFT

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

WIDOW’S GIFT

Preface

(give your all)

          Luke 21:4 says, “For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”  That certain poor widow was in extreme poverty, and there was no hope of her coming out of it. 

          Jesus was not excited about the large offerings being given.  He noticed the motivation of those who offered. 

          Think of that poor widow.  Not only was she flat broke, but she had no possibility of getting any more money. 

          We need to lay everything down at the feet of Jesus and say, Lord, what do you want me to do? 

          God will meet you there so fast!  It will stir heaven, shake hell, and move God!  

WIDOW’S GIFT

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          Mark 12:41-44 says, “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.  And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.  And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:  For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”  Two mites was about 1/4 of a penny.

          Luke 21:4 says, “For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”  Penury means “extreme poverty”, but it also means a lack of resources; there was no hope of her coming out of poverty. 

          Jesus was in the temple watching the offering box.  He wasn’t calculating how much people gave but how they gave, their motivation.  Many rich people cast in large amounts of money. 

          Nowadays when they have a Raise-A-Thon of whatever type, a dollar doesn’t draw much attention, but a million dollars rattles the rafters.  The donation is the focal point, and people get all excited about it.

          However, Jesus was not excited about the amounts being given.  The Father directed Him to watch HOW people cast in their money at the temple treasury.  He had said before that, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

          What if one of those rich men had given his fine clothes, all of his property deeds, and his livelihood to the temple treasury and had become poor like the widow?  When you give all that you have, it doesn’t matter how much you had.

          When the widow came along and gave her offering, Jesus knew (because God revealed it to Him) that this was all she had with no resources to have more.

          Even if some put in all of their pay check, they know that eventually they are going to get another pay check.  That is not in the same category as the widow woman who gave her all. 

          She had to decide what she was going to give, or if she was even going to the Temple at all.  Of her own free will she became totally reliant on the Lord.  It is possible that she battled with that decision all the way up to the point before she dropped it in.  However, when she let it go she was freer than anybody in that place except Jesus!         

          Mark 12:43-44 says, “And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:  For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”

          She didn’t stand out, but Jesus noticed her.  He told the disciples that she put in a larger contribution than everybody in there put together!  The rich men cast in of their abundance, but it didn’t move the Lord.  This widow was committed to the Lord. Consecration means being sold out, devoted, and dedicated to God.  All of the other stuff didn’t interest Him.

          The angels of heaven rejoice when one sinner repents.  I’m talking about when somebody genuinely comes up to the Lord, and says, I am spiritually bankrupt.  I have no avenue of escape.  In fact, every source in my life is gone, and I know that I have to have Jesus.  Frankly, I don’t care if I get anything else.  All I know is that I have to have God in my life, and Jesus Christ is the only one who can help me.

          It moves heaven and earth when you sell out to God.  It is the key to praying back through and getting revival. This works with people in ministry of any form, and it works for the common church goer who desires to see something happen. 

          Proverbs 14:4 says, “Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.”  In other words, if you have increase, you are going to have a dirty crib once in a while.  The world says, Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

          We aren’t going to have revival until somebody ventures - risks or invests something.  Almost everybody wants to be entertained and have something adventurous in their lives.  If you want an adventure, venture out when there is nothing holding you up but God.  The Pentecostal experience is an adventure.  True Christianity is an adventure from beginning to end, because the just, the Christian, shall live by faith.  You don’t know what is going to happen next.  You may not know where your next meal is coming from. 

          Some say, That is not security, but the most secure place you can be is in the hands of the Lord.  It seems we don’t need Him at certain times, so we only commit for so much, except at certain times, and that is when we are at the end of our rope. 

          The Apostles lived at the end of their rope.  Sometimes they didn’t know if they were going to live until the next day.  We want some sort of security, some sort of stability, and normalcy.  God’s people didn’t live normally after the Holy Ghost fell.  People who came sick, left healed.  People who came devil possessed left every whit whole, in their right mind, and filled with the Spirit of God!

          Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” 

          Jesus also said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  As far as having needs, you will not want of any good thing, and from time to time God will pour out an abundance on you.  However, we have made it our habit to search out the abundance.  In other words we say, Let me get safe, secure, and solid, Lord, and then I can risk some things.  Then they will cast into the treasury out of their abundance.           

          People who live in secure, high places and give to the Lord only a little do not live the adventuresome, exciting life of people who haven’t got a thing.  God supplies them with everything that they need.  Our focus should not be riches.

          Jesus was talking to His disciples.  Luke 22:35 says, “And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.”  Then Jesus said in Verse 36, “. . . But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.”  He gave them a command that they had better go get their purse, and scrip, and sword, because they were going to need it!  He said this because they were going to descend down into carnality, and normalcy, and even a backsliding position, and they were going to have to have those things!  When they were walking with Jesus, whatever they needed came to them by the hand of God. 

          It moves heaven when someone gives out of hopelessness.  When you got saved, the Spirit of the Lord drew you personally, and you knew you were spiritually bankrupt.  You confessed it and wanted nothing but Jesus.  That is true salvation.  However, we regress quickly and become re-normalized. 

          John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”  The Bible says for us to walk in the Spirit.  There is a higher place for us, but it involves commitment, and giving, and dedication.  It involves prayer, fasting, and seeking the Lord.  It requires selling out to God to where it doesn’t matter what else goes on.  You have to have contact with God!  If we are the body of Christ, and members in particular, we are going to be like Jesus, the head of the body. 

          Have you ever seen someone who is paralyzed?  The body will not do what the mind desires it to do, like reach out and pick up a spoon.   The church is like that!  God wants something done, but the hand or the arm won’t do anything, because they have their own mind!  What if your hand had its own mind?  The members of the body have a head (Jesus), and we are supposed to obey Him and do what He wants us to do.  We are bought with a price, and we are not our own. 

          Remember how it feels to have part of your body go to “sleep”.  You can’t make that arm or leg do anything.  You can poke around on it, but it is numb.  It doesn’t feel anything.  There is no contact between the head and that member until the blood starts bringing that contact back.  When the feeling comes back some pain comes with it, and then there is concern up in your brain.  When you are estranged from your head, there isn’t complete contact, and therefore you will not pay much attention to it. 

          Have you ever had a shot from the dentist that made your jaw numb?  Did you accidentally bite your tongue or the inside of your mouth?  You did not intend to hurt it whatsoever, but you did. 

          Pain is an indicator of damage being done, and when the numbness leaves, concern comes to your mind, and you stop the activity that caused the damage so the pain will stop! 

          However, if you are numb, or indifferent, or you are lacking commitment, the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, can’t do anything for you!  Whole denominations of people around the world have lost contact with the power of Almighty God.  They haven’t done it on their own, but their leaders have backslid and led them away from the deep things of God. 

          Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:17, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”

          Jesus also said in Mark 4:19, “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”  He is talking about what you have your security in.  Is it your spouse or your kids?  For others it may be different things. 

          We have our priorities wrong.  What if both feet wanted to go different directions?  Look at the church.  That is where it is!

          When the disciples were moving in the Lord, listening and obeying, they didn’t lack anything.  If we go on with the Lord we won’t lack anything!  It may look like it costs us everything, but when we put our life in the hands of the Lord, it becomes His problem.  Suddenly, the burden is lifted off of you, and you can praise the Lord.

          Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water.  We need to get out of our complacency and go where Jesus is!  If it means going through the storm, so be it.  If it means dying on the way, so be it! 

          The great men and women of God in the Bible were no different from anybody else, but they gave their all and put everything in the hands of God. 

          Peter was a difficult Christian, but he gave all.  He got out of the boat in the middle of a storm.  Nobody else got to experience this.  He got out of his security to go to Jesus.  Folks, our focus from the time that we are born again to the time that we enter glory must be to go to Jesus.  We must get closer and closer to the Lord or else we will backslide! 

          If Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had not taken their stand they would have never seen the Lord.  They were thrown in the fiery furnace that was heated seven times hotter than it ever had been heated.  Yet, the Bible says that all of their bondages were loosed!  There was no smell of smoke on them.  There wasn’t a hair singed.  Their ropes were loosed, and they were walking around FREE in the midst of the fire with the Lord himself.

          God wants to make an appointment with some of you, but you won’t venture out.  That is the difference between the people who get something from God, and people who don’t.  The measure that you mete is measured back to you.  If you sow a little, you reap a little.  This woman gave her ALL.

          We have to become like the first church so we can have revival.  We are going to turn this area upside down, and we are going into the place where God would have us to be.  Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.  However, the devil likes to keep people in bondage.  When the Spirit of the Lord comes around, it upsets people who are devil possessed or troubled by the devil. 

          When the Holy Ghost fell, the whole city was moved!  After they had been preaching just a little while, the Pharisees and the other religious leaders were screaming.  Their religion and their status quo was totally shattered!  God sent His precious, fresh anointing into the people, and they began to spread it abroad.  Persecution couldn’t stop it!  The devil couldn’t stop it!  The Pharisees couldn’t stop it!  The people working as wolves (false brethren) couldn’t stop it!  Hell couldn’t stop it!  Things weren’t normal any more!

          Some years ago we prayed for a girl, and the power of God fell.  It was interesting to watch a 4' 8" girl pick up a couple of 250 pound men.  Nothing was touching the floor but her shoulder blades, and she picked them up off of the floor with her legs.  Let some physically athletic people try that some time!  We cast the devil out of her and went home rejoicing. 

          In a few days we got a phone call that she had gone back home and started listening to her family.  They pulled her down, and she let the devil back in.  Somebody called and told me that I had to help her, because she was running down the street acting crazy.  Her family couldn’t do anything with her.  When we got there my wife, and I, and a couple of others gathered the poor girl up.  She was flopping all over the place like a chicken with its head cut off. 

          It created a stir, and we ended up at the sheriff’s office in Johnson County with the possibility of going to jail in just a few days!  That was a repercussion from casting out the devil!  However, we didn’t go to jail.

          You can keep the Spirit of the Lord from getting too roused.  You can keep Him quenched.  You don’t have to have people get upset in your face.  They can go home and say, Oh my, wasn’t that a lovely service.  Lovely services don’t interest me. 

          I got started in this thing when I heard that you could cast out devils, that people could spit up cancers, and that people were compelled to get saved.  I heard that you could see Christ, and angels, and devils, but if it isn’t happening all the time it becomes boring to me.  What do you think God thinks about it? 

          Deuteronomy 32:36 says, “For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.”  It makes Him ashamed.  I wish that we could get an understanding of the commitment we need and the price that was paid.  The blood of Jesus Christ made it possible for anything.

          When you go with the Lord, you are going to have trouble.  When we built this church we had trouble at home, trouble in the church, trouble everywhere, but we kept on driving nails!  I used to be hardheaded for the devil, so I might as well get hardheaded for the Lord.  God will supply all of our needs. 

          Do you think that it is possible that you and I have a need that we don’t know about, that God knows all about?  Don’t you think they asked Noah what he needed an Ark for?  It wasn’t even close to a lake!  Noah told them it was going to rain, and they needed the ark to escape the coming flood!

          I’m looking for a fresh touch from heaven that only God can provide!  I don’t care what people think about me.  I have got to have the Lord.  I’m addicted to the Lord.  If I don’t get a Holy Ghost blessing and the anointing of the Lord, I’m gut sick, miserable, grieved, and weary!  I want to see God move!

           What did the widow woman do to shake heaven?  She gave her all.  What did she do to get Jesus’ attention?  She gave her all.  Jesus gathered the disciples together to show them a lesson in giving and faith in God to provide when there is no way to provide!  It was a lesson in consecration and sacrifice.

          When you sell out to Jesus, He is right there and anything is possible to you.  Everything is available.  All you have to do is say yes to the Lord.

          2 Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 

          Have you ever put some sugar in a glass and watched it dissolve?  When it dissolves it becomes workable with the substance it is with.  When we are in Christ, born again, and we have put on Christ, it is like that.

          A big dry chuck of clay won’t pass through a screen, but if it is dissolved by water, it will flow right through it.  So it is with a Christian who wants to go into the throne room of God.  We have to be dissolved before we pass through the veil.  The dissolving is in direct proportion to our commitment. 

          Think of that certain poor widow.  Not only was she flat broke, but she had no possibility of getting any more.  We need to lay everything down at the feet of Jesus and say, Lord, what do you want me to do?  God will meet you there so fast!  It will stir heaven, shake hell, and move God!  

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.