The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

WHAT DO YOUR REACTIONS SHOW? (John 18:1 to 11)

I want to start by telling you something important, and here it is, the true test of your character is not seen in your actions but in your reactions. Have you ever gone to the doctor? And, when you were there, he was checking you out, and he put you up on the table, and took that little hammer and tapped your knee? He wanted to see if you had a particular reaction. He's trying' to find out something about you. Now, you could sit up there, and he could say, "Lift your knee," and you could raise it up and down like he said. But, he doesn't want to see what you planned to do, or that you can follow instructions. He wants to see the reaction he gets from you when he hits your knee with the hammer, because it is that reaction that is going to tell him something about you.

Now, all of us can control our actions. But, it's our reactions that really count and really show what we are. How you react, what comes out of your mouth, when somebody cuts you off as you are driving down the road, or if you stub your toe, or hit your finger when you are trying to hit a nail, says a lot about what is in your heart.

The difference between our actions and our reactions is really the difference between reputation and character. Somebody once said that reputation is what others think about you. Character is what God and your wife know about you. Sometimes there is a vast difference. But I want us to think today about reactions, and what we can learn about how we should react from how our Lord Jesus reacted to the events leading up to His crucifixion.

Jesus Christ gave himself for us on the cross to pay for our sins, and then he rose again to give himself to us that he might live his life through us. The same Jesus who reacted that way so long ago will react that way in you today, if He is inside of you. If he's not there, if He is not in you, they you are just an imitation of Jesus. But, if he is there, you can say, "The life I now live I live by the life of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Isn't that wonderful?

Click on the link below to learn how when we begin to live that way, the joy begins to come, the power begins to come, our loved ones get saved, our friends get reconciled, and God is glorified. That's what I want. That's what we want. We want our reactions to show people who we really are, a twice born person and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

TO LOVE IN A WORLD OF HATE (John 15:12-26)

Is Jesus Christ your personal friend? If not, you are missing out on the best of all friends. Jesus is my personal friend. I have all there is of Jesus just for me, and yet, you can have all there is of Jesus just for you as well. Only God can do that. Only deity can do that. He loves us all, but, He loves us each. He loves us individually. He cares for us. The God who runs this universe, in and through Jesus Christ, is your own personal friend. What a friend we have in Jesus!

There are a lot of people out there who have never met our friend Jesus, and He tells us, "You are my friends if you do what I command you, that you love one another as I have loved you." If we are to do this, then we need to say, "O God, help me to find someone that I can love and cultivate for Jesus. And help us to make our church a family of friends.'

When people come to a church that loves Jesus Christ, do you know what they should be impressed with? They should be impressed with the way the members love one another: the bigness of their love, and the warmth of their spirit. They should see any church that loves Jesus as a family of friends. We have the best Friend that a person could have, and we should share that Friend with them.

But there is another side of the world. There are people who deliberately choose to hate us just because we love the Lord. The opposite of love is hate. The Lord has been commanding His disciples to love one another. One reason why such love is imperative is because of the hatred of the world for the Lord and his own. He commands us to love one another, including those outside of the church, but He also wants to prepare us for the hatred that the world has for His followers.

Click on the link below to learn how to love as Jesus loves, in a world of hate.

Amen.

A LIFE FULL OF JOY (John 15:11)

Many people would define the word joy as happiness. So, what's the difference between joy and happiness? Someone once said, “Happiness may give smiles, put laughter on our face, but happiness is just what the word describes. Happiness depends on what happens. Therefore, you call it happiness. If your hap is good, then you're happy. If your hap is bad, then you're unhappy. It all depends upon happenstance and whatever happens.” But joy depends upon the Lord. It is supernatural. It is not natural. And, therefore, because that joy is supernatural, that joy is steadfast. It is not happiness.

For a believer, joy is more than an emotion. It is a strength. It is the power of our Lord Jesus Christ flowing through us. It is a continuous, contagious, and conspicuous, source of strength for the believer to deal with the tribulations and persecutions of this world. When Christ’s joy emanates from you, people see it, and they want what you have. It is what draws people to you to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ’s Joy is a joy that should be a part of every Christian’s life. It is not an automatic gift when you become a Christian, but it is a necessity to anyone wishing to live a victorious Christian life. The problem is that many Christians look for that joy in all the wrong places. They look for it the circumstances they are in. They look for it in their job, their hobbies, the people that they know, such as family members and friends. But those are all the wrong places to find Christ’s joy.

Click on the link below to hear a message on where to find real joy. It is when we abide in Christ that we find the unending love of Christ. It is also where we find true joy, in Christ.

Amen.

TO LOVE AS JESUS LOVES-PART II (John 13:31-35)

Last week we began a message on learning how to love everyone, including hard to love people, in the same way that Jesus loves us. I believe the one thing we would all admit is that there are people in this world who it would be very difficult to love as Jesus loves them, but that is what we have been commanded to do.

What does it mean to love someone in the same way that Jesus loves them? Does it mean that you are best friends, that you socialize with them, that you are going up to them hugging and kissing them all of the time? How did Jesus treat the Pharisees, or the Romans who crucified Him? Did He love them? Yes, He died on a cross for them. How did He treat the one who betrayed Him? Jesus washed his feet. He reached out to him in love. Why? To give him an opportunity to make Jesus his Lord and Savior.

I want you to think carefully about that, and I want this thought in your mind. How did Jesus show the entire world that He loved them? Jesus died on the cross for the sins of everyone. Why did He do that? So, their sins could be forgiven, and they could choose to receive the free gift of salvation. Without the Lord’s shed blood, then no one could be saved, no one would have a choice to be saved.

How can you go about offering people, even hard to love people, the same gift that Jesus offered them? Can you die on a cross for them? No. Can you witness about the gospel message of Jesus Christ to them? Yes. Can you live a life that would be different enough to make them want to be a Christian? Yes.

Jesus loved everyone so much, even hard to love people like Judas, or Pilate, or the Romans who beat Him, that He died so that they could be saved. Can you love others enough to offer them the gospel message so that they could be saved? If yes, then would that be one way that you could love them in the same way that Jesus does? Don’t misunderstand me, this is not all there is to this commandment, and we are going to talk about what type of love this is, but we need to put this into the context of why we, as believers, are even still on this earth. The reality is that once you are saved, you cannot be unsaved. So, why does God leave us here on the earth? Why not just take us to heaven right away? What is a key element in His plan for your life? Spreading the gospel message to a lost world, an ugly world, an evil world, a hard to love world. That is how Jesus loved the entire world, and it is one way that you can love others as Jesus has loved you.

Jesus said, a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another even as I have loved you. It is only men and women who are big in the grace of God, knowing that they have come from God, knowing that they're going to God, knowing who they are, that can obey this new commandment. They can do it because they tell themselves, God has accepted me. I accept that he accepts me, I accept me, and I accept you, and now you can accept me.

What does this type of love look like?
• You love them enough to lead them to Christ.
• You love them enough to not think of yourself as you are dealing with them.
• You love them enough to stand by them in the hard times.
• You love them enough to serve them.
• Most of all, you love them enough to forgive them.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to love people as Jesus loved them. It is pride that drives wedges between people. It is a love like Christ’s love that builds bridges. “A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another, even as I have loved you.” That's how to love as Jesus loved.

Amen.

TO LOVE AS JESUS LOVES-PART I (John 13:31-35)

In our message today, the Lord is going to give His disciples, and all of us, a new commandment, “…to love one another, as Christ has loved us.” Now, I have to admit, for me, that is a tall order because there are people around, even some Christians, who are hard to love. But that is what this new commandment tells us to do.

John 13:34
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
KJV

Now, Jesus is not just talking about loving other Christians. He is talking about everyone. He is saying that we should love everyone as Christ loves us. Is there someone you know that you just say, Lord that is not happening, I cannot love this person? Someone who has done you wrong, perhaps, even harmed you? Friends that have betrayed your trust? Family members who may have abused you, either physically or mentally? There are likely more than just one person who may fit into this category.

Well, why is it a new commandment? Love is not new. The Old Testament certainly taught us to love. In the New Testament gospels, Jesus even gave us a summary of all the commandments when He said,

Matt 22:37-39
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
KJV

What’s new, is that Jesus said that “we are to love as I have loved you.” Never before has this world known love like the love that Jesus Christ showed and the love that Jesus Christ gave. And that is what made it radically new. We are to love others not just as we love ourselves, but as Jesus loved us. This takes the love we are to show to a whole new level.

Click on the link to below to hear a message on how to love that person, who has harmed you, in the same way that Jesus Christ loves them.

Amen.

TO WHOM DO YOUR WORKS SAY YOU BELONG TO? (John 8:41-53)

A wise man once said that “Actions speak louder than words.” Do you know who that person was? According to that paragon of truth, Google, the first person in the US to say it was Abraham Lincoln in 1856. He said, “Actions speak louder than words is the maxim; and, if true, the South now distinctly says to the North, Give us the measures, you take the men.” Now, I have no clue about the context of President Lincoln saying that, but the phrase "Actions speak louder than words" essentially means that what we do means much more than the words we say.

If you combine this phrase, Actions speak louder than words, with the question of the title of the lesson, To whom do your works say you belong to, you begin to get an understanding of the Biblical truth that our message is about today. You can say that Christ is your Lord and Master, but do your works say that this is true?

Jesus said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” Therefore, you may tell the world that you are a Christian, but when they look at your works, the things that you do each day, do they speak loudly that you are indeed the servant of Christ, or of sin? What would God say if He looked at your works, are they His, or Satan’s? There is no in between.

The lesson for us today is that you can give the best sermon that was ever preached, you can teach the best Bible study lesson that was ever taught, you can quote hundreds of verses from the Bible, or you can give the sweetest testimony about what Christ has done for you, but if your life is full of sin, then you are nothing but a hypocrite serving Satan as you master. Again, To whom do your works say that you belong to?

Clink on the link below to hear a message on how God, and the world, look that the works that you do.

Amen.

ARE YOU THIRSTY? PART II (John 37-39)

Is your life a fruitful life for Christ or is it a barren life? Galatians 5:22 speaks of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Is there a river flowing out of you that causes fruitfulness where there was once barrenness?

This world that we live is sick and barren desert that needs life. It needs the fruit of the Spirit. It needs healing. There is a dead sea out there, and Jesus said, "If you thirst, come to me, and drink, and you'll be satisfied." As believers we need to come to Jesus and drink from Him by faith, and then where there was death, there'll be life. Where there was barrenness there'll be fruit.

The truth is that there are members of our churches today who have never been saved. If you are one of these people, then you need to come to Jesus today, and stop enduring religion, and start enjoying salvation. Then there are others who have been saved, but they have only been drinking in such a shallow way. You come each Sunday morning with a shallow thirst and you go home with a shallow satisfaction. In other words, you are only ankle deep. You need to drink deep of our Lord, and let this river flow deeply out of you.

You need to stop coming to church only seeking a blessing, and you need to come to church seeking to bless others with the river of living water that is flowing out of you. Now, don’t misunderstand me, all of us, at one time or another, need to be the one receiving the blessing, but Jesus is telling us that if we will drink fully from Him, then we will have rivers of living water flowing from us to bless all of those around us. We will be a source of life in a sick, dead, world.

Click on the link below to learn how you can be a source of living water for those around you.

Amen.

THERE IS LIFE IN THE BLOOD (John 6:52-53)

Are you in the secret service? I know a lot of Christians who are in the secret service. Now, they may be saved, but you would never know it by looking at them and the way they talk, the way they walk, the way they act, and the way they live. They do not have that power that God wants them to have. The life of Jesus Christ is not evidenced in them, and the difference is that they have never discovered the power of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave Himself for us in order that He might give Himself to us. He wants to share the power and life that is in His blood with us.

This is why we are failing to walk victoriously in Christ. We can be going to heaven, and we can thank God for the shed blood, which is saving blood, but there is more to it. He gave Himself for us, that He might give Himself to us, that we may eat of His flesh, and drink of His blood. Jesus is saying that we are to do this so His life might be in you.

Click on the link below to hear a message on what it means to find life in the blood of Jesus. Just as in my human body everything that my body needs to exist is delivered to me by my blood, so everything I need to live the victorious Christian life is in Jesus. There is life, and there is power, in the blood. The life of Christ is in that blood, life everlasting, and there is power in that blood for you and me to walk victoriously in our work for the Lord.

Amen.

JESUS FEEDS YOUR DEEPEST HUNGER (John 6:1-14)

Our message today is about the miracle where Jesus fed the 5,000 using just five loaves of bread and two little fishes. We will see that Jesus performed a miracle, and it was a miracle of feeding physical bodies. However, if all you learn from this message is that Jesus can miraculously feed 5,000 people with five loaves and a few fishes, then you have missed the whole point of the message God has for us today. What I want you to do as we talk about this miracle is to look beyond the miracle and on to Jesus. Jesus did not come to this earth as God incarnate in man in order to feed you physically. Jesus did not come to heal you physically. Jesus did not come to solve all of your physical, material, problems. He is a Savior. He came to save you from sin, and you need to look beyond these miracles and on to Jesus. We need to believe in miracles, but trust in Jesus.

Down in your heart, down in the deepest part of your being, there is a hunger that only God can satisfy. Pascal once said, "In every man's heart there is a God-shaped vacuum that God alone can fill through His Son Jesus Christ." And that is the hunger that I want to talk to you about today, not the physical hunger that we have.

Click on the link below and learn how there is never a problem too big for Jesus to solve. In every problem you face, God already knows about the problem and He has a plan to solve it. So many times, we have a problem in our lives that we're trying to solve. We are using all of our strength, at least so we think, but there is a heavenly Father who is ready to help us with His strength in order to solve our problem. The moral of the story is, there is never a problem too big for Jesus to solve, you just need to ask Him.

Amen.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IF YOU ARE BORN AGAIN (John 3:1-7)

What does a born-again child of God look like? Can you tell someone is a Christian by the way they look, or by the way they dress? Are there certain things a born-again child of God should not wear?

How does a born-again child of God behave? Can you tell someone is a Christian by the way they behave, or by the things they do, or say? Are there certain things that a born-again child of God should not do or say?

Now, let me ask the real question that I am leading us to. Is there a way that you can look at yourself and know whether or not that you are a born-again child of God? Jesus tells us there is.

Matt 7:20-21
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
KJV

Jesus is telling us in this set of verses that you will know a Christian, a true born again believer, whether it is yourself, or someone else, by the fruit that they bear. Not by the things that they wear, or how they look, and not by the things they say or do, but by the fruits that they bear. What are those fruits?

Gal 5:22-25
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
KJV

Paul is telling us that these are the things that we should be able to see, feel, and experience when we are in the presence of a born-again child of God. There ought to be a noticeable difference in you as a believer. Not a weird difference, but a good difference in the way you treat yourself, your family, your friends, and those whom you come in contact with. We are sojourners in this world. This is not our home. Heaven is our home. We are aliens on this earth, because we are in this world, but we are not of this world.

We are twice born, redeemed, sanctified, Holy Spirit inhabited, joint heirs with the Son of God. Our outlook on this life, and our purpose in this world, is totally different from that of a lost person. There ought to be a noticeable difference about us. If we are truly born-again, then there ought to be a difference in us.

When you are saved, it brings a certainty to it. You ought to be able to say, "I know, that I know, I have been saved." If you have trusted Christ, if you have come down and trusted on the Word of God, if you have put your faith in Christ, and you know where God has put your sins, and somebody says, "Are you saved?" Then you can say, with that same certainty, "Yes, hallelujah, praise God, I know, that I know, that I am saved. God's Spirit agrees with my spirit that I'm a child of God."

Click on the link below to hear a message on the traits of a born-again believer, and on the things that will be true of you, if you are truly saved. God’s wants you to be certain that you are saved, listen and learn how you can tell if you are truly born again.

Amen.