The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

CHASTENED BY A LOVING GOD (Hebrews 12:5-15)

Sometimes we are chastened by God. The word chastening is a Bible word that means child discipline. God loves you enough to discipline you. Now, you may not appreciate it now, but according to the Scripture, the time will come when you will bless the Lord that He loved you enough to chastise you.

God’s chastisement comes when we disobey the Lord, and as a result, we get into trouble because of our disobedience.  Many times, when this chastisement comes, we fail to remember the exhortation that God has given us in both the Old and the New Testament, which says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.”

Did you know that God is more interested in you being holy than He is you being healthy? Did you know that God is more interested in you being holy than He is you being happy? God is more interested in you being holy than He is you being wealthy. 

God’s plan for you, primarily, is not even to take you to heaven.  Now, I’m going to heaven, but that’s a fringe benefit. God’s plan is for you to be holy. Do you have a desire to be holy? If not, He may carry you to the woodshed and develop that desire in you, and that will be for your profit.

Click on the play button above to hear a message on how a loving God chastises those who are His.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.

ARE YOU RUNNING THE RACE? (Hebrews 12:1-2)

ARE YOU RUNNING THE RACE? (Hebrews 12:1-2)

When you think of an athlete who is a runner on a track team, what do you think about?  Dedication, training, conditioning, and a sense of complete focus on being prepared to run the race.  Then, when that person is running a race, they are singularly focused on completing that race to the best of their ability, right?  Imagine that there is a young man who is getting set in the starting blocks. Every muscle is tense in anticipation of the start.  The starting gun goes off and he explodes out of the starting blocks. He’s looking straight ahead with complete, total concentration. Every inch, every ounce, every nerve, every fiber, he’s pressing to the goal. He stays in his lane. He’s not moving to the right. He’s not moving to the left, and in this example, he is not running against anybody else. He’s running against himself. He’s running against the clock, and he’s headed toward the finish line. 

But, in this life, if you are a child of God, then you are in the race. I don’t care how old you are. I don’t care how feeble you are. I don’t care how rich, or how poor, you are. There is a race for you to run, and God wants you to run that race like a champion. 

The truth is that most of the people in our churches today are not active soul winners. That’s tragic. You say, “But, I give my money.” I don’t care how much money you give, if you’re not endeavoring to bring souls to Christ, then you are not right with God. You say, “Well, I teach.” I don’t care how eloquently you teach, if you’re not trying to bring souls to Jesus, then you’re not right with God. You say, “Well, I attend faithfully.” I don’t care how much you attend, if you’re not trying to bring souls to Jesus Christ, then you are not right with God. Well, you say, “I live a clean, moral life.” I don’t care how circumspectly you walk, if you’re not endeavoring to bring souls to Jesus Christ, then you are not right with God. Andrew Murray said, “There are two classes of Christians: soul winners and backsliders.” You’re one or the other.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can learn to run the race of faith that God has put before you just like the champions in God’s Hall of Fame.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.

STAR WARS (Hebrews 11:32-34)

STAR WARS (Hebrews 11:32-34)

This message is about a man named Barak whose story is found in the Old Testament book of Judges. As you might imagine, since he is a member of God’s Hall of Fame for the champions of faith, Barak was a man known for his faith. The title of the lesson, which is Star Wars, comes from the Old Testament book of Judges which says, 

Judg 5:20
20 They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
KJV

The background of this story is that there was a battle between Barak and a Canaanite general named Sisera, and the outcome of this battle was known before the battle even started.  It was fixed.  The verse tells us that it was impossible for Sisera to win because he was battling the stars. He had a collision with the stars. The message is very clear, and it is that All the universe is against the man who is against God.  If you are not with God, ultimately, you are destined to fail. The God who runs those stars, the God who created the universe and flung those stars out into space, programmed everything against Sisera. There was no way that he could win, because sin can’t win, and faith can’t fail, and this was a battle of faith, and God gave the victory.

Click on the arrow button above to hear a message on how God’s purposes will prevail. “Have faith in God, He cannot fail; have faith in God, He must prevail. He can’t fail.” Satan cannot win. The stars in their courses are against the man who’s against God. The stars line up for the man who loves God.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.

FACING FAILURE WITH FAITH (Hebrews 11:32)

FACING FAILURE WITH FAITH (Hebrews 11:32)

If God were to grade your faith today, would you get an A? A-plus? C-minus?  There was a student who came to the professor and he said, “Professor, I don’t believe I deserve this F.” The professor said, “Neither do I, but it was the lowest grade I had.”  Now, is that the kind of faith you have? What kind of a report card would God give you today if God had to measure you?

The Bibe says that our faith is important because it is absolutely impossible to please God without faith.  So, if you want to get an A from God on your report card, then you must have faith, and not just any faith, but a hall of fame type of faith.  The champion that we will look at today is Samson, and the title of our message is “Facing Failure With Faith.” So, let me ask, do you feel like a failure? Do you feel like you’ve failed the Lord, and to be quite honest about it, you feel like you don’t even deserve a second chance? Then this message is just for you because Samson was indeed a failure. 

However, in spite of what Samson did, God is the God of the second chance. Samson had enough faith to know that even though he was a failure and a disgrace, and that he’d failed and shamed God, that God still loved him and would remember him when he came in repentance and faith.  Now, you may be someone who has failed and you’ve failed so much. But I’m here as a messenger of God today to tell you God loves you, and the same God that blessed ole Samson, loves you. Here was a man, though he failed, he learned to face his failure with faith.

Aren’t you glad that we serve such a God? And aren’t you glad that 1 John 1:9 is in the Bible: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

Download this message to hear how God wants you to face your failures with faith.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.

PARENTS OF FAITH (Hebrews 11:23-27)

The most powerful and influential people on earth are not kings and presidents and cabinet members. The most powerful and influential people on earth are parents of faith, and in their hands is the destiny of the world. I cannot overemphasize the importance of family. The Bible states that the family is a creation of God, and it is indisputably important.  Faith is the vital ingredient in any family’s success. Do you want your children to be mighty for God upon this earth? It is a joy, a privilege, and a responsibility to raise your children for God, and you must have faith.

Every child is different. Every child is special. Every child is unique. Children do not come in standard packages. You have to read the label. God has a way for every child. Don’t see your child like a piece of marble or granite there, and you have a hammer and a chisel and you’re going to make out of that child what you want. That will be a great mistake. God has a plan for your children and grandchildren, and parents who are perceptive can see that special child.

We are living in perilous times, and we have been tasked by God to raise these children according to His plan for them.  We are in a battle with the forces of the devil for the spiritual hearts of our children.  First of all, there is liberalism in the churches. Our world is full of churches that do not stand on the authority of the Word of God, and the absolute Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That is compounded by the humanism in the schools.  Humanism is just a camouflage name for atheism. Then, there is our society filled with immorality.  How are you going to do raise children in this world?  Only by faith. 

Click on the link below to hear a message on parents of faith and how God can help you to be a person of faith.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

LEARNING TO LEAN ON GOD (Hebrews 11:21)

LEARNING TO LEAN ON GOD (Hebrews 11:21)

Many of us think that self-sufficiency is a virtue, and at many a high school graduation ceremony, there will be speakers telling young people to learn to be self-sufficient. The truth of the matter is that self-sufficiency is not a virtue; spiritually, it is a vice.  In fact, if you are a follower of Christ, then God is working on you. God is working on each of us, and He will not be finished with us until our total, complete dependency is not on self, but on Him.

In our message today, Jacob tells God, “Lord, I trust you, but …” Have you ever done that? “Lord, I trust you, but, Lord, I don’t trust You completely. And now, Lord, You help me out. But Father, You know, I’ve got to rig this thing first and you just make my efforts work.”  But that is not the way God works.  Did you know that God likes broken things? Men throw broken things away, but God never really ever uses anything until He first breaks it. David said, in the Psalms, “A broken and a contrite spirit thou wilt not despise, O God.” Most of us are not being used of God because we’ve never been broken. 

One of these days, if God breaks you and you become broken bread and poured out wine, God can use you. God took a little lad’s lunch, and broke it, and fed the multitudes. Mary took an alabaster box of ointment, and she broke it, and lavished her love upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Jeremiah said, “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among the thorns.” You’ll never have the crop you ought to until you put the plow in, until the old clods are broken. Even the Lord Jesus Christ took that Last Supper and said, “This is my body which is broken for you.” Men throw broken things away. God never ever uses anything or anybody until they’re first broken.

Click on the link below hear a message on how Jacob loved God, and he had to be delivered from his self-sufficiency. He had to learn how to lean on Jesus. 

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.

LESSONS FROM A DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY (Hebrews 11:20)

The home is meant to be the seminary of heaven, but often it is the incubator of hell.  If you are looking around, you can see that Satan is systemically dismantling homes in our world.  Sociologists today would say that family is important, but when society changes, what we call family can change and the role of family may change.  That is not true.  The Bible clearly states that the family is not the product of sociology. Family did not come from the swamps of immorality. Family is not something that evolved from primordial ooze. Family is the gift of God. God instituted family in the Garden of Eden, and the first institution was not government, not education, not business; the first institution was family. God put a family in the Garden of Eden.  Throughout history, when the concept of family was completely obliterated, disintegrated, from a culture, those societies crumbled. There is a war on the family, and you have to admit it: In today’s society, family life, godly family life, is difficult.

So, how do we fight this?  Unfortunately, the majority of the dads in America, whether they are saved or lost, are focused on the things of this world.  They are wrapped up in business, in sports, in recreation, in alcohol, in food, in materialism, and these fathers are living self-centered lives, while their families are dysfunctional, their families are crumbling around them. The Bible says that God made the husband to be the head of the family, and as the father, you have an awesome responsibility to be a spiritual man, a man of God. 

Click on the link to hear a message on how we, as parents, both father and mother, have an awesome power to bless our children. You can bless your children by training them up to love God.  But ultimately, the children must make their own choice to serve God.  

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.

A DYNAMIC LIFE OF FAITH-PART I (Hebrews 11:8-13)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul.” How would you like to have great faith?  If you are a Christ follower, then I trust that you do.  When you came to Jesus Christ, God enrolled you in the School of Faith. Life is the classroom, the Bible is the textbook, the prophets and the apostles are the professors, and Abraham would have to be the Dean in the School of Faith.

Our message today is on the dynamic life of faith that Abraham led.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”  This means that if you want to please God, then you must have faith.  If you please God, then it doesn’t matter whom you displease, and if you displease God, then it doesn’t matter whom you please.  There is no way to please God without faith.

Do you want to serve God?  Then, your chief duty is to believe Him. The supreme evil is unbelief. Unbelief is the source of all other sins.  Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden because they did not believe the Word of God that had been given to them. The Christian life, according to Hebrews 10:38, is to be lived by faith. The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.” 

Now, I am telling you as clearly as I can that without faith it is impossible to please God. You will never, ever, succeed in your Christian life without believing God.  Not just in God, but God’s Word collectively in the Bible, and God’s Word that He has given personally to you.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to have a dynamic life of faith that pleases God.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.

THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE-PART II (Hebrews 10:38 to 11:6)

Life is a journey. We are headed somewhere, and it is not a casual journey. It is a race.  The life of faith, the only way to live, is a life that has a destination. It is like a race. It has a goal. Now, faith helps us to find that goal, which is the will of God.  Do you know what life is all about? It is to find, to follow, and to finish the will of God. That is the destination of faith. That is what faith is all about.

God tells us “Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.”—looking unto Jesus.  This is telling us something very important.  It is not great faith in God that you need. Oh, we all want great faith in God. But that’s a by-product.  It is not great faith in God that you need.  It is faith, in a great God.  It is faith in a great God. 

Do you know what faith is? It is the by-product of looking unto Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of our faith. He’s the Alpha, the Omega. He’s the one that fires the gun. He’s the goal to which we run. He is the coach that coaches us as we run. Put your eyes upon Jesus Christ.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to live a life of faith.  You will not live without faith.  The question you need to ask is, do you know Jesus?  You can exist without faith, but you will never live without faith. Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have life.” You put your faith where God has put your sins: on Jesus Christ.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.

THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE-PART I (Hebrews 10:38 to 11_6)

How to live a life of faith.  We live in an age where we have a lot of people who are called stars, these so-called movie stars.  We have a lot of people who are called idols, these so-called sports idols. In my humble opinion, we have too many stars, and too many idols, and not enough heroes. I’m going to be talking to you today about heroes, Bible heroes.  

Faith is a confidence that rests in hope. It is not a will-of-the-wisp sort of a thing. It is substance.  When we live by faith, it’s not smoke and mirrors.  There is, substance, there is confidence that rests in hope.  The word “hope” doesn’t mean perhaps. Nor does it even mean wish. Nor does it mean desire. The word “hope,” in the Bible, means “rock-ribbed assurance based on divine revelation.”  For example, the Second Coming of Jesus is called the what? The blessed hope.  Now, is that the blessed maybe? No. It is rock-ribbed assurance based on the promises of the Word of God.  Jesus Christ is coming again, and that is our blessed hope, our rock-ribbed assurance based on divine revelation.

Faith, therefore, is the title deed, the confidence, that what God has said is true, and God will perform it. There is no legitimate faith without hope. And there is no legitimate hope without faith. These cannot be separated. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present, and the invisible as seen.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Bible says that you are to live by faith, by a confidence that rests in hope.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.