The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

HOW CAN YOU DEFEAT SIN? (Romans 6:1-5)

As a believer, would you say that you are in a constant battle with sin in your life?  

Every Christian should answer yes to this question, for Satan has never given up on destroying you, especially once you became a Christian.  But the wonderful good news that God has for us is that each believer has the power of the Holy Spirit of God to defeat sin in their life.  They can be victorious against sin.  

The process of sanctification is the ability of God to make sinners, whom He has declared righteous, actually righteous.  Paul will tell us that the justified sinner cannot continue in sin because he died and rose again in Christ.  This does not mean the believer will not sin, but it does mean that they will not continue live in sin.

To continue in sin leads to slavery.  Believers have been freed from the slavery of sin.  There is no reason for them to go back to it.  The believer has a new nature now, and he is to obey God.  

Union with Christ in His death and resurrection means that He is now our Lord and our Master.  He gives us freedom, but that freedom is not a license to live in sin.

Today, we are going to begin a series of lessons that talk about the power that we have, as Christians, to be freed from slavery.  The slavery that a lost person has to Satan and sin.  We are going to see how the power of God frees a believer from the dominance of sin in their lives and empowers them to live a victorious Christian life.

TO BE PATIENT TO THE END (James 5:8-11)

We live in a world today where more Christians are being killed for their faith than at any other time in history.  Countries in the Middle East, like Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia daily beat and execute Christians just because their faith does not match their own Muslim religion.  Places of Christian worship are destroyed by the religious intolerant.   What is sad is that the mass media and the other governments of the world have, for the most part, ignored what is going on in these countries. 

The U.S. is also following this trend.  While it is currently possible for preachers and teachers of the Word of God to tell what God has defined as the absolute truths of right and wrong, I see a time coming very soon when these same sermons will be considered as hate speech by our own government.  Preachers will be silenced from telling the world what the Bible teaches, even in their own churches.  Imprisonment, lawsuits, and persecution, will be applied to those who choose to preach and teach Biblical truths.  Our government has systematically removed God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible, from our government meetings, our schools, our universities, and the public square.  

I believe as Ronald Reagan once said, "Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." -- Remarks at an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in Dallas, Texas, 23 August 1984 (President RONALD WILSON REAGAN)

Listen to this study of the book of James to learn that even in the face of the harshest persecution, God has a happy ending for us as believers.  We have the promise of the Lord’s return.  

We have the promise that the Lord will come in power and judgment.  

We have the promise of an eternity in heaven with the Lord Jesus welcoming us with the words well done.  

We have the promise of joy, unspeakable and full of glory.  

This is why we can be patient.  Why, when we are subject to religious intolerance and persecution, we can be still, and why we can be strong, for we know the day of the Lord is coming soon.  

THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY (James 2:8-13)

What is the perfect law of liberty?

Have you ever considered what it would be like to go someplace where there were no laws, and no police officers to enforce those laws?  To be totally free to do whatever you wanted, for as long as you wanted, and in any way that you wanted to do it?

Sounds pretty good doesn't it?  If I don’t want to get up in the morning, I don’t have to.  If I want to drive my car as fast as it will go, then I can.  

This is pretty much what it was like for the early pioneers who opened up the western part of the United States.  When they stepped out into that wilderness, they were free from the laws and those that would enforce it.  They lived by their wits, their strength, and their courage, for even though there were no societal laws, there were always the laws of nature, and the laws of the strongest shall prevail.  

So the question is, are you truly free when you step out of the boundaries of the laws of a civil society?  Is this true liberty?

Without laws, is there such a thing as criminal behavior?  To be a lawbreaker there must be a law to break.

God, as our Creator, knew that man needed laws to establish the absolute truths about right and wrong, so He gave us His Word that we call the Bible.  It contains the Mosaic Law, The Sermon on the Mount, and it contains Christ’s Law, which is the perfect law of liberty.  These laws identify what is sin for man.  They let man know that he has broken those laws, that the penalty of that sin is death, and that man needs a Savior.  The very Savior named Jesus Christ who died on a cross to pay the penalty for man’s sin.  

As a believer we are no longer under the Mosaic Laws, but our behavior is to be controlled by two commandments.  

The first is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.  This is a believer’s responsibility to God.  

The second is, To love thy neighbor as thyself.  This is a believer’s responsibility to others.

How do we find perfect liberty?  Listen to this podcast to learn that the answer is to be redeemed, released, and ruled by Christ.  

HOW DOES A CHRISTIAN BEHAVE? (James 1:25-27)

How does a Christian behave?

Should the world be able to identify you as a Christian just by your behavior?

The Biblical view of a Christian is that of someone who has the love of Christ in their hearts and they express that love towards others.  Christians, Christian churches, and Christian organizations have been meeting the needs of the hungry, the sick, and the lonely, for two thousand years and they have done so far more effectively than any government handout could.  

It is true that as Christians we live lives that are different from others.  There certainly are types of behavior that we will not participate in.  But, we see that choice not as a restriction, but as freedom from the consequences that a life of alcoholism, drug abuse, greed, and sexual promiscuity and depravity, can bring to a person’s life.  

We also see a life of service to God.  God has commanded us to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ to the entire world.  Our lives are likely the only Bible most people will ever read.  What the world knows about salvation, eternity, the love of Christ for all people, and the power of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives comes from what they see in our behavior, our words, our actions, and our attitudes.  

We see a life of duty to the call of God, to accomplish the work that God has given us to do.  

We see a life that is free from the worry of what will happen tomorrow, because we know that God is control of all things, and He is in control of our lives.  

Listen to this podcast to find out what the book of James says about how a Christian should behave.

THE LIGHT THAT IS JESUS CHRIST (2 Cor. 4:3-6)

Where can you find real truth? 

 

What are the absolute truths about right and wrong, good and evil?

 

The educational system and the liberal media would tell you that they are anything you want them to be, that there are no absolute truths about right and wrong.  But they are deceiving you.  People have been searching for the answers to these questions since the beginning of time. 

 

They have tried atheism.  Atheism teaches that all of this marvelous creation was just an accident, a random chance event.  There is no truth to be found in atheism.

 

They have tried philosophy.  Philosophy can teach you more and more about nothing, but there is no real truth to be found in philosophy.

 

They have tried false religions.  Satan absolutely loves false religion.  He is the master at making people believe just about anything you can imagine.  He would tell you that salvation can be found in ritual, ceremony, good works, and membership in a church.  Yet, there is no truth to be found in false religion.

 

So where can you turn to find truths in a dark and blinded world? 

 

In the light that is Jesus Christ.  He alone has the words of eternal life, the truth about right and wrong, love and grace, mercy and forgiveness.

 

Listen and rejoice as Paul describes how Satan has blinded the world to the light that is Jesus Christ in this verse-by-verse study of 2 Cor. 4:3-6.

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD (2 Cor. 3:17 to 4:2)

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of grace. It is unique from the religions of the world in that it does not require a person to live by a set of rules to obtain salvation. When other religions say do this, Christ says done. Christ has already done all of the work for your salvation. All you have to do is call upon the name of Lord Jesus Christ and accept the salvation that He has provided. This is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is preached by every Christian in the way they live their lives and the words that they say. Rejoice as Paul tells us about God's grace and our release from the legalist's rules and rituals in this verse-by-verse study of 2 Cor. 3:17-4:2

TO BE SEPARATED FROM EVIL (1 Cor. 10:15-33)

Many Christians see nothing wrong with reading a daily horoscope, attending séances, and playing games that reach out to the spiritual world.  They see them as just harmless fun.  In this verse-by-verse study of 1 Cor. 10:15-33, Paul discusses the wisdom of the Christian being separated from the evil things of the world.   He gives us practical examples of how to apply this principle of separation in our daily lives.

TO LEARN BY EXAMPLE (1 Cor. 10:1-9)

Does God's Word have examples that we can learn from?  Examples of people who have tried to live a victorious Christian life and either failed or succeeded? Yes it does.  They are in both the New Testament and Old Testament of the Bible, and they provide us with detailed instructions on living our lives in a way that would be pleasing to God. In this verse-by-verse study of 1 Cor. 10:1-9, Paul presents a series of examples to the Corinthians to help him explain the consequences of the choices they have been making in how they conduct their daily lives.

THE MOTIVE OF A MINISTER (1 Cor. 9:10-27)

Have you ever asked yourself why anyone would want to be a pastor, preacher, minister, or missionary?  What drives him to want to be a preacher of the gospel message of Jesus Christ?  For that matter what drives any Christian to want to be a soul winner for Christ? Well, this is what Paul addresses in this verse-by-verse study of 1 Cor. 9:10-27.  He is going to tell us what motivates him to be an apostle for Christ, and he tells us what should be your motivation as a Christian worker as well.

A MINISTER'S LIBERTY (1 Cor. 9:1-9)

In this lesson Paul is going to talk specifically about his rights, or his liberty, as an apostle, and those of the ministers that do the work of the Lord in obedience to their calling.   Certainly the liberty of an apostle was great.  He could choose to do many things, but he also was held to a very high standard as he interacted to the world around him.  He had the power to win large numbers of people to Christ, and he also had the power to drive them away.  He would willingly choose to limit his liberty in order to make sure God's message was understood.  Paul would do nothing that would cause one of his flock to turn away from God.   This is a verse-by-verse study of 1 Cor. 9:1-9.