The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

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.

JESUS, THE SOUL WINNER (John 1:35-42)

What is the role of a church member, or a witness for Christ, or a soul winner, or that of an evangelist, a pastor, or a teacher?

What is the single most important role for each of these people? To win people to Christ. Anything else we do impacts people’s lives in this short time we have on earth. While that is important, and it really is important, helping them find Jesus as their Savior impacts both, their lives now, and their eternal lives. Be sure and understand that I am not saying that we all have to be great evangelists with huge crowds of people coming to know Christ through our preaching. I am saying that everything we do to care for people, love them, treat them, hold them, walk with them, talk to them, work with them, play with them, everything, needs to keep in mind that our goal is to make sure they know that Jesus Christ loves them and wants them spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Every word we speak, every action we take, it is a witness of the Lord that we claim as Master. Every time we fail, it is a witness of the Lord that we claim as Master. Every tragedy we face, it is a witness of the Lord that we claim as Master. Everything.

Jesus is to be our example. We are to be working to be more like Christ every day. We study God’s Word to know more about Christ, and so we can be more like Him. We learn from His actions, and His words.

Click on the link below to hear a message about how Jesus led people to follow Him. We will see Jesus in the first couple of days in His public ministry gathering disciples. And He won’t do it by being a fiery evangelist like John the Baptist. He will do it with His words and His actions. Just like you and me.

Amen.

WE ARE CHRIST'S CANDLE (John 1:5-9)

Today’s message is about our role, as born again believers in Christ, of being a candle for Christ. We have been commanded by our Lord to allow His light to shine through us. We are to be Christ’s candle for the world.

Mark 4:21
21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
KJV

When you stop and think about it, a candle, in and of itself, really is a remarkable invention. When it was created, its whole purpose was to serve as a simple instrument for dispelling darkness. It enabled man to work, or rest, in the dark. It allowed him to see the dangers that used the darkness to prey upon him. If it was put into a lantern casing, it became a mobile source of light and protection as man traveled along the road. It guided man along the pathway or trail that he was following. If you placed the candle in front of a reflective surface you could focus the light and cast it out for greater distances enhancing the protection, and utility, that it gave.

Darkness, with all of its power to frighten and bewilder, is no match for the light. The faintest gleam, the smallest candle, will dispel the deepest darkness. The function of the candle is to provide the light that dispels that darkness. But notice that the candle performs this function at a great expense to itself. It has to give itself up to the flame and be consumed. The light of the sun and stars is provided on the same principle. As they shed their light upon us, they consume the energy that is within them.

Now, the Word of God tells us that in the spiritual realm, the Lord Jesus is the Light that dispels darkness. The light that He brings has been provided at an infinite cost. Yet, when we come to Him, He kindles that light in us. The fact that we are now His light bearers means that we, too, must pay the price of shining. Our light is not to be hidden. It is not a secret light. It is to be placed where it will be seen of men. Many people hate and resent the light of Christ and will try to extinguish it. On the other hand, many other people will be drawn to it.

It is important for us to understand that it is the light itself that is the miracle, we are just the candles. We are sowers, and we are light bearers. We are to be a light unto the world.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the role of a believer to be Christ’s candle to the world.

Amen.

DEALING WITH PERSECUTION (Revelation 11:5-13)

The Bible says that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you live for Jesus, and your life is in obedience to the will of God, it is fruitful for God, and you are sharing the light of the gospel to a dark world, then the Bible says that you will suffer persecution.

To know that this is true, all you have to do is read the headlines of the news today. Christians are suffering severe persecution in countries all around the world. So, the question that we will look at today is, How do you deal with this persecution? What are the Biblical truths that we must apply to our lives, if we are to be successful in dealing with persecution on both a physical and spiritual level?

Click on the link below to learn the five factors that the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation about the two witnesses for God, and how they dealt with persecution. These are important lessons that we must settle in our hearts and mind if we are to be victorious in our witness for God.

Amen.

THE CURE FOR LUKEWARMNESS (Revelation 3:17-22)

Last week we began a lesson on what a lukewarm Christian is and how God feels about that type of Christian. The Lord condemns the lukewarm Christian. He tells them that I would thou wert cold or hot, meaning that the Lord would rather have you against Him than pretending to love Him with a lukewarm heart. Lukewarm Christians have done more harm to the cause of Jesus Christ than all the prostitutes, bartenders, pornographers, and drug pushers combined.

Lukewarm Christians are the alibi of sinners. They double-cross Christ. Jesus would rather have you on the wrong side of the fence, than sitting on the fence. Jesus hates this condition so much that He says in verse 16, So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. God is saying that there is a sin that is so vile that it nauseates Him. What is that sin? Lukewarmness, and it is the sin that is probably the most prevalent in the church today. God is speaking to self-satisfied, half-hearted Christians. He is speaking to most of the people who attend our churches today, and that should break our hearts.

So, how did their self-satisfaction and complacency begin? How does a person, who is so excited on the day they are saved, become a lukewarm Christian?

Do you remember the fire that burned within you for the Lord on the day you were saved? The joy that filled your heart, the earnest desire to tell everyone around you about the wonderful gift of eternal life that you had just been given by a gracious God? Do you remember that at all? What happened to that person? Are you more on fire today than you were then? If not, then you have cooled down. People cool down by degrees.

Somebody has said that an average church is so lukewarm that you have to backslide to be in fellowship with all of the other members. Was there ever a time when you loved the Lord Jesus Christ more than you do right now? If so, then to that degree you are backslidden, you are beginning to cool down, and before long, you will be room temperature. And when you do, you will look around and say, I must not be so bad, because I am just like everyone else. The sad part is that if you really get on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ, people will think that you are odd.

So, how do you become lukewarm? You begin by becoming satisfied with where you are in your Christian life. You begin by assuming that you are all right because you are becoming more and more like those around you, but instead you are cooling down by degrees. If you are not a better servant of God today than you were yesterday, then you are cooling down. Lukewarmness is caused by self-satisfaction.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon about the cause of lukewarmness, and the cure of lukewarmness.