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Each week a new verse-by-verse Bible study podcast given in expository style. Join us and see the Bible come alive as we study the truths that God‘s Word has for us.
Episodes
Monday Aug 22, 2022
Monday Aug 22, 2022
WORSHIPING TOGETHER (Hebrews 10:19-25)
The church in the 21st century has a genuine problem, and the problem is lagging and sagging church attendance. Now, without a doubt some of this has been caused by the Covid pandemic. In fact, it is still having an impact today, as there are those who have serious medical conditions that prevent them from being in large groups of people. Nor is that the only reason people stay away from church, and I am not condemning anyone who is providentially hindered from being in our worship services. But, our message today is about why attending a worship service with other believers is incredibly important to you as a believer, and to the other members who attend with you.
People today have the idea that perhaps they’re doing God a favor when they come to church for a worship service. I think one of the tragedies of this age in which we live is that there are so many who claim to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet they do not regularly attend the Bible study and worship services of their local church. Yet the Bible teaches if you willingly forsake the assembling of yourself together, then you cannot claim to be true to Jesus Christ, if you willingly do that. Jesus Christ and the Church are not identical, but they are inseparable.
We need one another. We owe to one another a fearful loyalty in these days, to exhort and fire up one another. These are wicked days, lascivious days, evil days, and all kinds of mayhem and wickedness are in the world. That’s all the more reason we need to be faithful and loyal to our local church that God has given to us, and we must keep her lights burning brightly on Sunday and Wednesday.
Click on the link below to hear a message on why attending worship services together as a body is not only a privilege, it is our solemn duty.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 06, 2022
Sunday Mar 06, 2022
Today’s message is a very interesting passage of Scripture because it talks about God’s ideal of a virtuous woman, He is saying that this woman is the complete, perfect, woman. That is, she is God’s ideal of what a woman, a wife, and a mother ought to be.
Sometimes when you ask a woman what she does, she’ll say, “Oh, I’m just a housewife.” Well, if that is you, then I hope that you will never say that again after this message here today, because you’re going to find out that perhaps the most difficult, the most demanding job in all of the world is being what some people call a “housewife.” Now, I’d rather call her a “homemaker,” because she is not married to a house. So, I don’t like the word housewife; but indeed, she is a homemaker.
This is the ideal wife. Now, I don’t believe that there is anyone really like her in all of the world. Yet, God has put into His Word God’s standard, God’s ideal for wives, and God always deals in perfection with His standards.
Listen to me men, if you are married to a good and godly woman, as I am, happily so and for many years, I can tell you that I do not have words in my vocabulary to express to you how much I value my precious wife. I will also tell you that the real value, the real worth, of a wife is not in her outward charm—though I thank God for outward charm; it is not in the beauty of her face—though I thank God for that; but the real value of a wife is her virtue. God says “Who can find a virtuous wife? Her price is far above rubies.”
To her children, to her husband, and to her neighbors, she’s known as a godly woman, a woman who fears the Lord. That is her glowing witness. I am convinced that virtually all of the major problems that we have in America would change overnight if we just had some more women who met this standard of God’s virtuous woman. The Bible tells us that the only way to be this kind of a woman is to fear the Lord. It’s all possible because of Jesus.
Click on the link below to hear a message on God’s ideal of a virtuous woman.
Amen.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church in Wichita, KS.
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
I don’t think anyone listening to me today would disagree that we are in moral crisis in our world today, and especially in America. But, we are also in a crisis of leadership, and certainly the Bible teaches us that a nation gets the kind of leadership that nation deserves. May I say clearly and plainly that leadership is crucial for any nation to be blessed by God.
There’s an old proverb that says, “If the gold rust, what shall the iron do?” Now, what that proverb is trying to say is that, if our leadership is not right, what’s going to happen to the rest of us?
Now, here in our country, our government is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The very genius of our government is that the people participate. It’s unthinkable that God Almighty would have ordained government and then told His people to stay out of it. Because, if we do stay out of it, then who would that leave to influence and to lead? Unfortunately, we see the answer to that question with the leadership that populates all levels of our government. There is a crisis in leadership in our country today, nor is this anything new. It has been a crisis for a very long time.
Yet, don’t ever think for one moment that because wicked men make wicked choices, and wicked rulers lead, that God has forsaken control. He has not. The Bible says, “For God is the King of all the earth,” and not only is He King of all the earth, but He is King forever.
Now having said all this, what should we do? Well, number one, the very first thing that we need to do is to pray for revival. The second thing we need to do is prepare for suffering. We need to teach our children that it may not be like we had it. We need to be building character into these boys and girls. Then, the third thing we need to do: We need to prepare for the Lord Jesus Christ’s arrival. He is coming. Jesus is coming. All you have to do is look around and see that the signs of the times are saying that Jesus is near.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the character of a leader.
Amen.
Sunday Dec 12, 2021
Sunday Dec 12, 2021
The Bible says that the great hunger of every person’s heart is to know Jesus Christ. Not know about Him, but to know Him and to have reality. Yet, people are tired of hypocrisy. They are tired of games. But they are seeking reality. If we want to reach people for Christ. If we want to show people how to fill that great hunger they feel in their heart, then we must have this bright, shining, and living reality, and no longer be cardboard Christians.
Prov 21:28
28 A false witness shall perish: but the man that heareth speaketh constantly.
KJV
This verse says that it is fatal not to have reality, to be false, to be a phony, to be a cardboard Christian. “A false witness shall perish.” A false witness is someone who looks like a Christian, acts like a Christian, talks like a Christian, they may even believe they are a Christian, but they are not saved, and they are not born again. If you believe that you will have eternal life in heaven just because you have joined the right church, but you have never made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, then you are a cardboard Christian.
The verse also tells us of the reality of a faithful witness, “but the man that heareth speaketh constantly.”
John 10:27
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
KJV
This means that the Lord doesn’t know anyone unless they have heard His voice. You cannot be a Christian without hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t mean audibly. But you must hear God. A faithful witness hears, and what is it that they hear? His voice. What is His voice? His Word. The Bible that we have been given by God, written and inspired by God, those words are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Click on the link below to hear a podcast message from The Master’s Class at LifeChange Church Wichita on the fatality of a false witness, and the reality of a faithful witness.
Amen.
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
A TRUE FRIEND (PROVERBS 17:17)
Like most of you, I can count on one hand the number of true friends that I have had throughout my life, and still have fingers left over. A true friend is a gift from God, and it is something that we treasure because they are so rare. In today’s lesson, I am going to flip this around and talk about what we, you and I, need to do in order to cultivate and become a true friend to someone else. So, what do I mean when I say a true friend? Somebody has said, “A friend is someone who comes in when everyone else goes out.” If you want to know who your true friends are, face some real tragedy in your life, and then see who jumps ship, and who comes to be with you.
Prov 17:17
17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
KJV
A true friend will make you a better person. A true friend is faithful, and a true friend will care enough and love enough to confront you.
Now, for the believer, the best friend that we will ever have is Jesus Christ. Just think about the blessings of knowing Jesus and having Christ as a friend, and all of the things that it ultimately means to us. How His friendship for us lifts us to a new level, and the fact that we didn’t choose Him, but He chose us.
Now, let me give you something to understand. Grace is God’s acceptance of me. Faith is my acceptance of God’s acceptance of me. Peace is my acceptance of me. Love is my acceptance of you, and then, fellowship is your acceptance of me. Grace, faith, peace, love, fellowship—there’s an unbroken chain. We need to learn how to accept God’s acceptance of us so we can accept ourselves and so we can accept others.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what it means to be a true friend to someone else. As a Christian we offer eternal life with Jesus Christ in heaven. If this is truly our vision, then it is very important for you as an individual to have friends and to be a friend. But, if we are to bring more people to a saving knowledge of Christ, then we need to meet their needs, and one of the things that meets needs is that spirit of friendliness.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
This is Part II of a message that I began last week on how the Word of God teaches that righteousness increases freedom, and I put this in the context of what is happening today to this country that we love so much. We live in a time when the very foundations of our nation are being challenged, and in many ways those foundations have already been unalterably changed.
Alexander Hamilton said, “People get the kind of government they deserve.” This means that the government that we have is a reflection of the character of our people. If the government reflects the character of the people, then you are going to find that the greater the character of the people, the more freedom, the more liberty, those people will have. The less the character of the people, the less freedom, and the less liberty, those people will have. Another word for character is responsibility, because character is responsibility assumed.
So, what is the only hope for America? I want to state with all of the power of my soul that the only hope for America is found right here in God’s Word.
Prov 14:34
34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
KJV
This is not merely what God has said in the past, this is what God is saying to any people, any nation. It is a universal truth from God, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Unfortunately, the country that we love has overwhelmingly chosen the path that is described by the last half of this verse, where it says, but sin is a reproach to any people. It is with a very heavy heart that I have to say America is no longer the godly country our founders created.
Now on July 4, 1776, there was signed in the city of Philadelphia a document we call the Declaration of Independence. Now it was independence from Great Britain, but what many people fail to understand is that this same document was a document of dependence upon Almighty God. Now, without a doubt, the politicians of today have forgotten that fact. But it was clearly, and plainly, a declaration of dependence upon Almighty God.
Look at the opening and closing paragraph of this document. It says this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are … endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.” It begins that way. But it closes this way: “With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence …”—now, what is reliance? That’s dependence—“With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence”—what is divine providence? That’s God—“With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
All of that was stated in the context of depending upon Almighty God. It was then that the cannons fired. It was then that the fireworks went off. It was then, in the old statehouse now called Independence Hall, that the Liberty Bell began to ring out freedom. And on that bell are inscribed these words from Leviticus 25, verse 10: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land.”
In that document they said that God created us. Now, that isn’t what we can teach in schools today. But, our founders said in that document that God, as our Creator, gives us our rights, not the government. These are inalienable rights, like life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These have come from the Almighty, and not from government.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how our government, our constitution, began with a dependence upon Almighty God. And the Constitution was written by people of character, for people of character, and it will work for no other people. If we lose our character in the United States, our constitution will not work.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 24, 2021
Sunday Oct 24, 2021
This is a message that talks about a subject that weighs heavily on my heart as I read and see what is happening in our country today. We live in a time when the very foundations of our nation are being challenged, and in many ways those foundations have already been unalterably changed. The proverb that is the focus of our message today is very fitting for the subject at hand, because we are speaking today on this subject: Righteousness Increases Freedom.
Prov 14:34
34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
KJV
I believe the American Dream was placed into the bosom of our Founding Fathers by God Himself—I believe that with all of my heart. I believe that this is a Heaven-rescued, God-blessed land. I like what the Declaration of Independence says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident … that all men are endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights.” This means that, our very nature—the very nature of this land—is rooted in a belief in Almighty God.
When George Washington was sitting in the gallery amongst the members in the Continental Congress, somebody wanted to know which one he was. And, a friend said, “Well, if you want to see which one Washington is, when Congress goes to prayer, he’ll be the tall man who gets on his knees.” Washington was the one who went aside in the snows at Valley Forge, and got down on his knees, and prayed, and asked God to bless his little ragtag army. God did bless those revolutionaries, and out of that came America as we know it.
Thomas Jefferson said, “The God that gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.”
Alexander Hamilton said, “People get the kind of government they deserve.” This means that the government that we have is a reflection of the character of our people. You see, God ordained three institutions: the home, the Church, and the government. And, all three—the home, the Church, and the government—are but a reflection of the character of those people.
Now, here is another truth: if the government reflects the character of the people, then you are going to find that the greater the character of the people, the more freedom, the more liberty, those people will have. The less the character of the people, the less freedom, and the less liberty, those people will have. Another word for character is responsibility, because character is responsibility assumed.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how the righteousness of our people will determine the freedom and liberty that we enjoy as citizens of this great Heaven-rescued, God-blessed land.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Prov 14:23
23 In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
KJV
God tells us that “In all labour there is profit.” Basically, God is telling us that no matter who you are and what your job is, God has given you that job and it is a sacred job because you are serving the Lord, and it is one that you are to find joy in because of who you are serving. If you do that job in the name of Jesus, and you do it for Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, then you can find joy in that job. It doesn’t matter if you are a homemaker, a widow, a retiree, 25 or 85 years old, single, married, or working every day at a job place, God has work for you to be doing, and this lesson is about finding joy in that work.
Now, you may feel that your work is nothing exciting, nothing meaningful, nothing thrilling. You feel that you are stuck as an ordinary person in an ordinary job. There is nothing extraordinary about you, or the work that you do, and you wish that God would call you to do something really special, really extraordinary. Now, you may be a very ordinary person. But, God loves ordinary people. He must because He has made so many of them. God makes ordinary people. Then, God takes ordinary people, and He gives them extraordinary power. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then God infuses us with His Holy Spirit so we are no longer ordinary, because when we get saved, we become extraordinary. God takes ordinary people; God gives ordinary people extraordinary power; and then God puts those ordinary people in ordinary places.
Now, this is the takeaway that you need to put in your heart: When God takes an ordinary person and gives them extraordinary power, then puts that ordinary person in an ordinary place with extraordinary power, He does extraordinary things through an ordinary person. If you’ll learn this, and get this into your heart, it’s going to transform your life.
You may not be in an exciting job. But, if you learn what God has to tell you in this message, it is going to turn that drudgery into delight; it is going to turn that monotony into magnificence; and you’re going to find out that you are where God has placed you, and you’re there for a specific purpose.
Click on the link below to hear what the Word of God has to say about having joy in the work that God has called you to do.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 03, 2021
Sunday Oct 03, 2021
The title of the message is “Finding Joy in Your Work,” and I want to tell you, if you understand what God has to say in this message, it’s going to transform your work. It’s going to change it from boredom to blessing. It’s going to change it from monotony to meaning. It’s going to change it from drudgery to dignity. It’s going to change it from the same old grind to glory, if you understand what God has to say to us in this message today.
You see, so many people are sick and tired of what they do. I mean, they endure their work, whatever it is, they don’t enjoy their work. They think their job is meaningless. They think that some people have happy jobs, some people have exciting work, some people have thrilling things to do, but not them. They draw their breath and draw their salary. They wake up in the morning and take a bath, shave, go down, drink a cup of coffee, eat a piece of toast, scald their throat because they’re running a little late, drink their coffee too fast, then they run out and fight the traffic and get to work. It’s the same old thing day after day. Then they come home at night, take a couple of aspirins, sit down and watch the TV, discuss things with the wife, maybe putter around in the yard a little bit, then go to bed. The next day, the same old thing: nothing exciting, nothing meaningful, nothing thrilling. It just seems to be so humdrum, so meaningless.
Ok, I can already see the wheels turning in a lot of your minds because your saying, “Bro. Keith, you are a little late with this lesson because I am retired. I don’t have to work anymore.” If that is what you are thinking, then shame on you. Did you know that God doesn’t have a retirement program for Christian believers? If you are a Christian, and you are still breathing, then God has work for you to be doing. If that were not true, then God would have taken you to heaven. So, if you are still here, then God has work for you to do. Now, I am not talking about religious work, I am talking about God’s work, whatever God calls you to do.
Now, there are others who might be saying, “Bro. Keith, I don’t work at a regular job, I just stay at home taking care of my family.” Let me tell you that the work that a wife and a mother does taking care of her family is one of the most important jobs there is in this world. The greatest God-given role of a mother is pointing her children to Christ. The greatest desire of a mother who loves Jesus, is that her kids come to know Jesus as their Lord and savior, and then live their lives for Him. Just imagine, you get to partner with God in the daily discipleship of your children and in leading them towards a saving and sanctifying knowledge of the truth.
The same can be said for a wife, and about the love and support that she gives to her husband. Once the kids are gone, some women can feel that their purpose is over. But that is simply not what the Bible tells us. Just as the husband is to help his wife be all that she wants to be in the eyes of God, it is the wife's responsibility to help the husband become all that God wants him to be.
The point that I am trying to make is that it doesn’t matter if you are a widow, a retiree, 25 or 85 years old, single, married, or working every day at a job place, God has work for you to be doing, and this lesson is about finding joy in that work.
Click on the link below to hear a message about how to have joy in the work that you do for God.
Amen.
Sunday Sep 12, 2021
Sunday Sep 12, 2021
We live in a world where a lot of people, including our Christian brothers and sisters, are living with a heavy heart. The world has taken a pause this weekend to remember all of the of the people who were lost in the terrorist attack on 9/11. The families of the soldiers and first responders who lost their lives responding to the attack over the last 20 years are dealing with the loss of their loved ones. There is sorrow, worry, and stress that is weighing down on all of these people, and our lesson today is about God’s Miracle Medicine for people with heavy hearts.
Have you ever heard of a medical term called E.I.I? E.I.I. stands for “emotionally induced illness.” That is, people are sick physically, but their emotions have made them ill. Now, I had never heard of this term before, so of course, I went out on Google, the source of all untruth, and searched for articles on it, and there was quite the list. Some described it as “A psychosomatic illness that originates from or is aggravated by emotional stress and manifests in the body as physical pain and other symptoms.” Other articles just talked about the real physical effects of long-term stress on the body.
In our message today, I want to give you a little G.M.M., or “God’s miracle medicine.” I believe that God is leading me to teach us what God has to say about this idea of the impact our emotions can have, good or bad, on our health. God tells us:
Prov 17:22
22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
KJV
You see, right there in God’s Word, we learn that “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” That is God’s Miracle Medicine. A Christian without joy, a joyless Christian, is a contradiction in terms. Someone has well said, “A religion that wears grave clothes ought to be buried.” I say amen to that.
Click on the link below to hear a message where God tells us in His Word that true joy is found in the Lord Jesus, and “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” I want to share it with you today. I want you to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And for all that E.I.I. that is weighing your heart down, I want you to take a good dose of G.M.M, God’s miracle medicine. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
Amen.