The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

A TRUE FRIEND (Proverbs 17:17)

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.

THE DANGER OF PRIDE (Proverbs 16:18)

THE DANGER OF PRIDE (PROVERBS 16:18)

God talks about pride, or being proud, 97 times in the Bible, so this is a subject that God really wants us to understand what He thinks about it.  

Prov 16:18
18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
KJV

Pride, more than any other sin, is holding back revival in our land, in our home, and in our church. Pride, more than any other sin is destroying homes and ruining happiness and joy in the home. Pride, more than any other sin, is undermining the foundation of America, this great nation that we love. Pride, more than any other sin, is causing Christians, born again people, to live lives of defeat. Pride, more than any other sin, is populating and filling up the place that we call hell. It is a dangerous sin.

But not only is pride a dangerous sin, it is a deceitful sin. Now, so many people do not understand that they have pride or what pride is doing to them. There’s a benefit at least to being a drunkard or a thief, as bad as that is. At least the drunkard knows he’s a drunkard. At least the thief knows he’s a thief. But the proud person says, “Well, if I had any sin, I’d confess it.” He doesn’t admit his problem. His pride, that is his problem, keeps him from admitting the problem.

Pride brings national ruin. Pride brings domestic ruin. Pride brings financial ruin. Pride Brings emotional ruin. Pride brings spiritual ruin and Pride brings eternal ruin.

Click on the link below to hear a message on five ways that pride can destroy your life.  Pride is a dangerous, and a deceitful sin that’s doing more damage in homes, and hearts, and lives than any of us may dare dream. And every one of us, wrestles with the sin of pride.

Amen.

DISHARMONY IN THE HOME (Proverbs 15:13-22)

When a man and woman are married, there is to be what is called the “The Music of Marriage.” You have the husband, or the father, who is the leader of the band.  It is the father who sets tune in the home. He is the leader of the band.  Now the Music of Marriage requires that there be “Harmony in the Home,” and if there is to be harmony in the home, then husbands and wives must sing the same song, but they sing different parts. That’s what makes it harmonious, and not a mere melody, but wonderful harmony.  

Now, this harmonious Music of Marriage occurs when we play the part that God has equipped us to play. So, husbands and wives are singing different parts of the same song, but hopefully they are singing in the right rhythm, so they sing it together. But, the message today is on this subject: “Disharmony in the Home” I’m really talking about tension in the home, and what can we do to deal with it.  How can we have the harmonious music of marriage that God wants us to have?

As a young man I tried to learn to play the guitar, and I have dabbled trying to play the piano.  I was not successful in either endeavor.  I can’t seem to tap my foot to keep time and play the notes at the same time, and a metronome drives me crazy.  But, playing the guitar did teach me a few things besides having sore fingertips.  I learned that in order for the music coming from the guitar to sound harmonious, each of the strings have to be in tune.  Now, to tune those strings you have to adjust the tension on it.  If the string is not tight enough, then the music is flat and dull.  But, if the string is too tight, then the music is shrill and high-pitched. But if the string is even tighter, the string will snap.    

One of the major obstacles to the harmonious Music of Marriage is tension in the home caused by stress and strife. Stress is related to raising your voice, to raising your pulse, and raising your children. Listen, if you’ve got children, then you have stress just built in, and being in today’s home, the string can get mighty tight, and sometimes it can snap.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how God intends for you to deal with the stress in your home, and how you can have that harmonious Music of Marriage that God wants for your home.  

Amen.

RIGHTEOUSNESS INCREASES LIBERTY-PART I (Proverbs 14:34)

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.

FINDING JOY IN YOUR WORK-PART II (Proverbs 14:23)

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.

FINDING JOY IN YOUR WORK (Proverbs 14:23)

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.

TRUE RICHES (Proverbs 13:7)

Everybody wants to know how to be wealthy God’s way.  In our messages over the next couple of weeks, we are going to find out about how to be wealthy. As a matter of fact, many of you may be wealthier than you realize, and some of you may not be nearly as wealthy as you think that you are.  Today, we will put everything in perspective as we talk about “True Riches.”

Now, I know, when I’m talking to you about money, I’m talking to you about something very pertinent—something that every one of us is interested in, and we ought to be. Somebody once said, “The most vital nerve in the body is the one that runs from the heart to the pocketbook.” And sometimes we seem to be so sanctified, but yet when it comes to money, we’re not really as sanctified as we act like we are.  I found a poem that describes the way we often are.

I once knew a Baptist; he had a pious look,
He had been totally immersed, except his pocketbook.
He placed a dollar in the plate and sang with might and main,
“When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain”
—AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Now, I believe there are some like that today, who really tend to love the Lord, at least outwardly, but inwardly there’s another love, an inordinate love for the material things of this world.  So, we’re going to be talking about true riches, and the measure of a man is what that man thinks about money. You tell me about money, and I’ll tell you something about your character. I’ll also tell you something about your faith. Stewardship is that area of life, not only where man makes money, but where God makes men. So, we’re going to be talking about this matter of real riches, or true riches.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the different kinds of riches that God’s Word tells us about. Some riches are not riches at all. 

Amen.

 

GOD‘S MIRACLE MEDICINE (Proverbs 12:25; 15:13-15; 17:22)

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.

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL (Proverbs 9:13-10:7)

For the last several weeks, we have been studying about the virtues of God’s Wisdom.  We have talked about the character of God’s Wisdom, the majesty of God’s Wisdom, how to find God’s Wisdom, and then last week we talked about how to apply God’s Wisdom to our lives.  I think it is safe to say that God intends for us to use His Wisdom as we do the work that He has for us to do.  God drives this point home in our message today where He contrasts the differences between good and evil.  A good example of this is the contrast between a wise son and a foolish son.

Proverbs 10:1
1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
KJV

Do you see the contrast here?  “A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.”  You have the wise son and the foolish son, and the impact they have on the family.  

Now, many parents have understood the truth of this proverb. It describes the experience of a loving set of parents when their son, who is likely in his teenage years, goes through a rebellious phase and, as a result, he goes seriously wrong.  The young man may have run away from home, experimented with alcohol and drugs, and he ends up getting arrested, and is likely headed to jail.  The young man has rebelled against parental discipline, chose his friends from a worldly crowd, and had no use for preachers who have their own faults, or the church full of hypocrites.  He especially does not want to hear the Wisdom of God’s Word.

Solomon says that such “a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.”  This means that the son’s actions drive the mother into a state of depression.  You can imagine the feelings of doom and gloom in the hearts of both of the son’s parents, but it especially impacts the mother.  Of course, the devil is having a heyday with all of this.  That is when the mother becomes convicted and asks the Lord for help, both for her and her wayward son.  She wears out the rug on her knees as she prays.  After perhaps months, or even years, of these nights spent in prayer with a broken heart, there comes a day, when late that night, the son comes stumbling into the house after a night of partying.  He sees his mother there, on her knees, talking to the Lord Jesus about her son.  He might even pause to listen to her cries for help, and see her tears fall down her cheeks.  

Sometimes, the son is impacted by this image of his mother praying over him, and other times it pushes them even further out.  But, I still believe there is nothing stronger than a mother’s prayer for her children.  Sometimes, that rebellious son will be so impacted by what he sees that he chooses to return and be saved.  It is then, that the foolish son becomes the wise son, and Solomon tells us, “A wise son maketh a glad father.”  A wise son is a blessing to both of his parents.

In this life one of two things happens to us. Either our sins get blotted out, or our names get blotted out. There can be no greater horror for a man than to wake up in a lost eternity to the terrible realization that his name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life.  If he had but chosen to make Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior, if he had been redeemed, then his name would have been written in the Lamb’s book of life to be remembered for Christ’s sake forever.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on God’s Wisdom of living an honorable life that is pleasing to God.

Amen.  

THE PROBLEM OF IMMORALITY-PART II (Proverbs 7:16-27)

I believe that God wants us to understand this problem because of the devastating impact the sins of immorality will have on our lives.  God loves us, and He wants what is best for us, and so in His Word He warns us about the dangers of immorality.  He then commands us to not commit those sins.  Then, He follows that up with the story of the flood, and of Sodom and Gomorrah, where He shows us the consequences of His judgment on those who ignore His warnings, ignore His commandments, and choose to commit the sins of immorality.  

Now, the wonderful thing about God is that He doesn’t just command us not to do something without providing us the wisdom that we need to avoid committing those sins.  God tells us in His Word,

Prov 7:1-2
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
KJV

Our news media never tires of exposing the scandals of mighty men.  The headlines tell of the fall of religious leaders, politicians, and celebrities, and it doesn’t matter if happened yesterday or 20 years ago.  We also see that most people have a double standard. They expect a much higher moral profile in those they elect to public office than they expect from themselves, and woe betide the person who lets them down. Many a promising career has suddenly been shipwrecked because of a past immorality. 

This warning may sound overly dramatic, especially in the times that we live in today, with its acceptance of all things evil as good.  But, this is God’s warning, and it is a warning that is to be taken literally.  God will judge those who commit the sin of immorality. 

There is also a spiritual application in these words for us.  So far, we have been talking about committing physical adultery and immorality.  However, the Scriptures also have a great deal to say about spiritual adultery.  That is what God called it when His people left Him and went after idols.  They departed from the living and true God. They were to be joined to Him, but they had separated from Him. They were actually playing the harlot; they were being unfaithful and untrue to Him. That is spiritual adultery.

Today we have many cults and “isms” and all types of false religions around us.  For example, someone will say that “You don’t need to follow Christ any longer as you are following Him.  There are many ways to heaven.  What you need to do is join our group and do what we do, act as we act, and worship who we worship, and you can earn your way to salvation.”

Yet, the Bible is clear that we are saved by the grace of God alone.  

Eph 2:8-10
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
KJV

Paul is telling us that “Faith plus nothing equals salvation.” We are to be absolutely, utterly cast upon Jesus Christ as our Savior. Yet, many people cannot accept a salvation that they did not earn.  

God’s answer to this is that the believer is joined to Christ. A person who has been saved by grace, and grace alone, is joined to Christ.  Then, once saved, Christ has said that we are to keep His commandments if we love Him, and His commandments are not grievous. We are to love one another. We are to be filled with the spirit of God. We are to witness to the world. Those are His commandments today. We are joined to a living Christ; we live on a higher plane. The fruit of the Spirit should be evident in our hearts and lives.

Today there are isms and cults all dressed up like a woman of the street.  They are flattering and they are calling men and women. Yet, God tells us that to follow them is like an ox going to slaughter. It is like a fool going to the correction of the stocks.  God is reminding us that we cannot settle for anything less than the person of Jesus Christ!

Amen.