The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

WHERE DOES GOD LIVE? (Acts 7:47-49)

WHERE DOES GOD LIVE? (Acts 7:47-49)

The title of our lesson today is “Where Does God Live?”  I don’t know of any subject that excites me more than the answer to the question “Where Does God Live?”  And, I can tell you that if you will learn what I have to say today, not because I say it, but because of the truth of it, it will radically, dramatically, and eternally change your life. 

So many of us think of God as sort of an absentee landholder.  That somehow, we are down here on earth, and He has saved us, forgiven our sins, and then given us a shove, and said, “Do the best you can.”  And He is up there in heaven peering down through the clouds, and every now and then, we are sending prayers up to Him and saying, “O God, as you sit at master control up there, do something to help me down here because I am in great, great difficulty.” And when we don’t see a response from God, we sometimes pray and say, “You know, I pray, and my prayers never got above the light bulbs.” If that is what you think, do you know what your problem is?  It is because you think God is way up there above the light bulbs.  Listen, God is beneath the light bulbs, as well as above the light bulbs, and that is what we need to learn. We need to learn where God is and where God lives.

Let me ask a question, if you wanted to write God a letter, do you know His address? Do you have the zip code? Where does God live? Sometimes we say about the church we worship in, “Well, this is the house of God.” This is not the house of God. Now, it’s God’s house in the sense that He owns it, but “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:26, 28) But, this is not God’s address. As a matter of fact, God has been living in a series of houses, and I want to talk to you about those houses today, because when you learn this lesson, you will learn a great, great, truth.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on where God lives, where God dwells.  God has moved into people. In the Old Testament, He had a temple for His people. In the New Testament, He has a people for a temple. We are the temple of God, and God lives in us.  That is the answer to the question “Where does God live?” The answer is God lives in us.  

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

Amen.

THE ALMIGHTY GOD (Acts 4:23-5:11)

THE ALMIGHTY GOD (Acts 4:23-5:11)

The message today speaks of how the early Christian church praised God for what He is, the omnipotent Creator of the universe.  They proclaimed “Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.” Sadly, this is something that most churches do not really believe today.  And you can know this is true, for if they did believe it, then they would not be taking the liberal positions in direct conflict with God’s word that they are taking.  

You cannot believe that God is truly the Omnipotent Creator of the universe and then not accept His absolute truths about what is right and wrong.  God is unchanging, as are His truths, they do not change with the changing of society mores.  God as the all powerful Creator of the universe is the fundamental building block of the entire Bible.  Satan will do all he can to create lies and deceptions about who God is, and what the Holy Spirit says that He is in His Word.  

God is the all powerful Creator of this universe, and since this is absolutely, wonderfully, magnificently, true, then Satan is no more than a second hand loser.  No wonder Satan hates this basic truth!  No wonder he has brought up his heavy artillery to discredit it in the minds of men.  

For you see, if you abandon what the Holy Spirit says in Genesis 1 as not factual and unreliable, as mere mythology, as totally unacceptable to modern science, then satan has won.  

If the Holy Spirit cannot be trusted when He tells of creation, then how can He be trusted when He tells of salvation?

If what He says about earth in Genesis 1 can be questioned, then what He says about Heaven in Revelations 22 can be questioned.  

If the Holy Spirit cannot be trusted in Genesis 1, then how can He be trusted in John 3:16?

So, when someone tells you that the creation account in the Book of Genesis is just a theory, you must understand they are questioning the entire message of the Bible, including the Gospel.

Click on the play button to hear a message that says, if we believe that God is the Creator.  If we believe that God deserves our worship and praise.  If we believe that all other beings, both spiritual and physical, are subject to the commands and permissive will of God.  Then, our fears should go away, and our faith should rise up in times of trial.  For who can harm us that is not under the permissive will of God?  And that knowledge is what gave these early believers holy boldness in the face of persecution, and it can give you that same holy boldness.

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

Amen.

THE TIMES OF ENOCH (Genesis 5:24)

THE TIMES OF ENOCH (Genesis 5:24)

Enoch got out of this world.  The Bible tells us that God just translated Enoch “that he should not see death.” That is, God took him physically, bodily, to heaven without dying.

There is the story of a man who was complaining about the situation in the world to Mark Twain, and he said, “I’m just afraid the world is coming to an end.” And Mark Twain said, “Well, don’t worry about it. You’ll never get out of it alive anyway.”  But he was wrong. Enoch got out of it alive, and Elijah got out of it alive too. 

Now, the Bible teaches that some of us are also going to get out of it alive, and I have a feeling that some of us who are living in this day, and this age, are going to heaven without ever dying. The Bible calls this the Rapture of the Church.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how the conditions of the world during Enoch’s time where so bad that God sent the flood to destroy the earth.  Yet, when we compare those conditions to the conditions of our day and age, we see a great deal of similarity.  Enoch preached the Second Coming of the Lord.  

Some people say, “Well, you know, you Christians, you’re always talking about the Second Coming of Jesus. You’re always saying Jesus is going to come. Well, why hasn’t He come?” The answer is found in, 

2 Peter 3:9-10
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
KJV

The Second Coming of Jesus will come.

Matt 24:37
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
KJV

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

Amen.

THE LINE OF SETH (Genesis 4:25 to 5:32)

The descendants of Seth are described in the Bible as the godly line.  And as the world of the ungodly began to take shape right from the beginning, so did the world of the godly.  God never leaves Himself without a witness, so from generation to generation, step-by-step with the generations of the wicked, the generations of the faithful to God flowed through the days before the flood. 

As we study this line of Seth, there are only two things recorded, neither of which are recorded of the line of Cain.  The first is that they lived.  It is stated twice for most of them.  The reason God doesn’t say that the Cainites lived is because, to God, they were “dead in trespasses and sin.”  Yet for the line of Seth, the Scripture tells us that they lived, and Jesus tells us that they had life abundantly.

John 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
KJV

The second thing that is recorded of the Sethites is that they died.  Once again, God did not record the death of the Cainites for heaven had no interest in their deaths.  But for the Sethites, it is recorded that each one died and how old they were when they died.  All that is except for Enoch, which is another story.  

God said to Adam in Gen 2:17, “… For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” and they all died who were the sons of Adam. But, on the other hand, it was a day of jubilee.  As each man dies, God proves Satan a liar, for Satan had said “thou shalt not surely die.”  Yet each man died.  God took note of each death and recorded it.  The death of each saint was a jubilee day in heaven.

Psalms 116:15
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
KJV

Death for them was not the end, but the beginning.  

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

Amen.

THE LINE OF CAIN (Genesis 4:7-24)

The critical difference between Cain and Abel was not a character difference at all, but the difference was in the offerings which they brought. It is the same today, for it is the offering that makes a difference in men today.  

The offering of the lost person is his works.  The lost person believes it is his good works that matter, that make him better or worse than someone else.  A recent poll stated that a majority of Americans believe that the basis on which someone will get into heaven would be on how good their works were.  It also said that if people believed in a hell at all, then it would only be the really bad people who would go there.  Without a doubt this is the best false religion that Satan has going. 

But no true believer takes the position that he is better than anyone else. The thing that makes him a Christian is that he recognizes that he is a sinner just like everyone else and that he needs an offering, he needs a sacrifice, and he needs Someone to take his place and to die for him.  That Someone is Jesus Christ.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how the people of the world today are attempting through religion, through joining a church and doing something religious, and then by living what they call a moral life, to make themselves acceptable to God.  Yet, we know that for our righteousness to be acceptable to God it must be a perfect righteousness, and that can only come through the blood of Christ. 

2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
KJV

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

Amen.

THE BLOOD ATONEMENT-PART II (Genesis 4:1-8)

In the story of Cain and Abel that we find in the book of Genesis, Abel was a prophet, and Able taught that when you believe on Jesus, you’ll have remission of sin. Now, in order to have faith, Able had to have the Word of God. The Bible says that he was a prophet. He understood the blood atonement. I want to tell you, he may not have understood it as you and I understand it, standing on this side of Calvary, but he was a man of God. He was one of the Old Testament prophets that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, there is a principle that starts in the book of Genesis and goes all the way through to the book of Revelation, and that is blood atonement. You cut this book anywhere; it will bleed. There is a red river of redemption. It welled up there in the Garden of Eden and flowed past the gates of Eden when God made for Adam and Eve coats of skin.

Adam and Eve had three kinds of garments. First of all, they had a robe of glory; they were covered with light. And then they lost that robe of glory, and they had a robe of guilt. They knew that they were naked, and they were covered with shame. And then they had a robe of grace, as God killed an innocent animal, and with that innocent animal, He made for them coats of skin. What was God teaching right there in the dawn of civilization? That “Without [the] shedding of blood is no remission [of sin].” 

Then we see Abel as he comes continuing in the same idea, and he brings this pure, spotless lamb and the fat thereof, and God had respect unto the prophet Abel’s offering. 

Click on the play button to hear a message on how there are really only two divisions of all religion, and that is the salvation of works and the salvation by grace. 

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

Amen.

THE BLOOD ATONEMENT (Genesis 4:1-8)

Did you know that all religion is not the same?  Somehow, we have thought that it is antisocial if we don’t just put our arms around everybody else and say, “Well, God bless you. You believe one way, and I believe another way, and your way is just as good as my way.”  Well, that is simply not true. There is but one way to worship God, and that’s God’s way. Now, Jesus is not just a good way to heaven; Jesus is not even the best way to heaven. Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. Now, that may sound narrow to some people, but, it is what God, in His Word, has said is true.

John 14:6
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
KJV

Acts 4:12
12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
KJV

If Jesus Christ is not the only way to heaven, then Jesus Christ is none of the ways to heaven. If Jesus Christ is not the only way to heaven, then Jesus is a faker, because He claimed to be something that He was not. A faker is nobody’s Savior. If He’s not the only way, then He is none of the ways. He Himself said, “I am the way, the truth … no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how there are really only two divisions of all religion, and that is the salvation of works and the salvation by grace. 

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

Amen.

GOD’S PLAN FOR REDEMPTION (Genesis 3:7-24)

GOD’S PLAN FOR REDEMPTION (Genesis 3:7-24)

The question that I really ask when I study about the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is, why didn’t God just smack Satan and stop all of pain and misery that he has caused?  I would just love to have seen God just look at Satan and just say “Be Gone.”  Well, first off, man would sin anyway, even without Satan.  Satan just helps things along.  Man will have this proven to him during the millennial reign of Christ when Satan is bound for a thousand years.  

It took one man to undo the damage done by another man.  Jesus, the second Adam, came to regain what the first Adam lost.  

1 Corinthians 15:21-22
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
KJV

Jesus came as he did (born of a virgin) to be what he was—holy.  If He had been the son of Adam with Adam’s nature, he would have been a sinner because in Adam all have sinned and died.  He would also have been a slave, for the son of a slave is himself a slave.  Jesus was what He was (holy) to do what He did—redeem us.  He came as a sinless man, paying the full price for our transgression.  He satisfied God’s righteous and holy law and nullified all of satan’s rights to Adam’s domain.  Then, Jesus did what He did (redeem us) that we might have forgiveness, cleansing, a new nature, and Kingdom Authority.  He is the head of a brand-new race.  

Jesus was born of a virgin that we might be born again. Jesus became the Son of Man that we might become the sons and daughters of God. Jesus died in agony that we might live in victory.  

Click on the play button above to hear how God’s plan for redemption of the ruined human race was formed before the foundation of time.  It is written, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17).

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

Amen.

HOW SIN EVOLVES (Genesis 3:1-6)

In today’s lesson we are going to move into chapter 3 of the book of Genesis, and we are going to see how Satan works in this world to destroy mankind.  Make no mistake about it, that is Satan’s goal, the complete destruction of the creation that God loves the most.  The Bible tells us that,

John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
KJV

The word world as it used here means mankind.  God loved us so much that He would send His Son to die on a cross for our sins.  Satan knows this, and Satan wants to destroy anything that God loves, and so his goal is to totally corrupt and destroy the entire human race.  He started this effort in the Garden of Eden.   

Now, it is important that you know that Satan is a decided fact, that Satan is a destructive force, and thank God, that Satan is a defeated foe. You need to learn about the devil. You dare not be ignorant about the devil and his devices. And he’s done all that he can do to pull the veil of darkness across his kingdom so that you will not understand. But I want us to see, as we look today in this scripture, what I call “How Sin Evolves in your life.” 

Click on the play button above to hear a message on how Satan’s method to destroy man is the lie.  Satan is the biggest liar, and he tells lies about the biggest subject, God Almighty.

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

Amen.

A TALE OF TWO TREES (Genesis 2:15-17)

A TALE OF TWO TREES (Genesis 2:15-17)

In today’s lesson we are going to be talking about a couple of very important trees that God has given to mankind.  

For the first tree, God had created man, and He placed man there in the beautiful Garden of Eden and gave him absolutely everything he needed for indescribable happiness and for joy and fulfillment. But in order that man might have a will—and a free will—God gave him the moral opportunity of a choice. And so, God created a tree and planted that tree in the Garden of Eden. It was called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and man was absolutely forbidden to eat the fruit of that tree.  That was the first tree.

For the second tree, we have Calvary’s tree, which is a tree of life.  Now, don’t be confused, this is not the tree of life that was also placed in the Garden of Eden, but it is “The” tree of life.  The tree of eternal life.  The tree that Christ died for our sins on. when you see the cross, and when you see what it did to Jesus, and when you see the wrath of God being poured out, there you have a knowledge of evil. That tree, Calvary’s tree, was a tree of the knowledge of evil, but it was also a tree of the knowledge of good. When you see the cross, when you see Calvary’s cross, there and there alone do you behold the goodness of God, the glory of God, the grace of God, the righteousness of God, the majesty of God—the glory of God—as you’ve never beheld it before, by beholding the cross. 

Click on the play button above to hear a message on the two trees that God has given man.  Trees that give the knowledge of good and evil.  With the first tree we see the sinfulness of man, and with the second tree we receive the wonderful grace of God.

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

Amen.