The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

THE KINGDOM REVEALED (Genesis 46:26 to 47:26)

THE KINGDOM REVEALED (Genesis 46:26 to 47:26)

Our lessons over the last several weeks have used the story of Joseph and his brothers to present the picture of Christ and His relationship with the people of Israel.  

We have seen that with the rejection of Joseph by his brothers, It has described the Jews rejection of Jesus as their Messiah.  

Then, with the suffering and persecution of Joseph and his ultimate placement at the right hand of the throne of Pharaoh, It has described the suffering of Jesus, His resurrection, and His placement at the right hand of God,  

We have also seen that the very same Joseph that the brothers had sold into the slow death of slavery now stood before them in all glory and power. This illustrates the very same Jesus, that the Jews had the Gentiles crucify, will stand before them in all glory and power.  

With the brothers’ confession of their sin against Joseph, This has described the Jewish people’s confession of their sin when Christ returns to set up His Kingdom. 

Through the grace of forgiveness that Joseph bestowed on His brothers when they recognized him as their brother, It has described the grace of forgiveness that will be bestowed on the Jews when they see Christ and instantly recognize Him as Lord and Master. 

And in today’s lesson, as we describe the kingdom that Joseph establishes, and the role that the Hebrews will play in that kingdom, it will describe the Kingdom and rule of Jesus that will be established when Christ returns and the role of the Jews in that Kingdom.  

This whole dramatic and beautiful story of Joseph is a story about the grace of God.  It is a story about Jesus.  It is also a synopsis of the rest of the Bible as it also tells of the relationship that we as believers have with our Lord and Master as joint heirs in the promises of the Jewish people.  

Click on the play button to hear a message on God’s grace, and God’s purposes being fulfilled.  It is a story of illustration of the things to come as Christ comes again to rule for ever and ever.

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

Amen.

THE REVELATION OF GOD'S WILL (Genesis 45:9 to 46:7)

THE REVELATION OF GOD’S WILL (Genesis 45:9 to 46:7)

Does God have a purpose in the events of this world? Does God have a purpose for your life?  If the answer to those two questions is “Yes”, and it is, then the better question is do you know the purpose of God for your life?  If not, how do you go about discerning the purpose, or the will, of God in your life?  This is what our lesson is about today.  I want to speak to you about The Revelation of God’s Will.

Your great desire ought to be to know His will.  Your great delight will be to do His will.  Your great danger is to refuse His will.  Nothing is right for you, if it is not God’s will.

It may sound simplistic, but the will of God for you is Jesus, just Jesus.  Jesus is the head of the church, and the church is the body.  What is the will of my body? My head.  What is the will of the church of the body of believers? Jesus, the head of the church.  The will of God for your life is Jesus.  He is your Lord.  Know Him, know the will of God.

Here are three principles about the will of God.

First, The will of God is for your welfare.  It is not something you have to do; it is something you get to do.  

Second, The will of God will never take you where the power of God and the grace of God cannot enable and keep you.

Third, You are free to choose.  God will never force His will upon you.  You are free to choose His will.  You are not free not to choose.  When you say, “Well, I just won’t choose.” You just made a choice.  You are free to choose, you are not free not to choose—and pay attention, you are not free to choose the consequences of your choice.  You make a choice to follow God’s will or not, and that choice chooses the consequences for you.  

So, what should we do to know the will of God? Ask the same questions that Jacob did.

Lord, who are you?  Do you know that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you know Him as your personal Lord and Saviour? Do you have an intimate relationship with Him?  Is your mind conformed to the mind of Christ?

Lord, what do you want me to do? Are you willing to do whatever God will enable you to do?  Are you surrendered to God?

Click on the play button to hear a message on how to know the will of God for your life.

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

Amen.

THE FRAMEWORK OF SALVATION (Genesis 45: 1 to 28)

THE FRAMEWORK OF SALVATION (Genesis 45:1-28)

There is something that I want you to know beyond the shadow of any doubt, and that is God wants you to be saved.  There is an old hymn entitled “BLESSED BE THE NAME” with the words, 

“I never shall forget the day,
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
When Jesus washed my sins away,
Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
—CHARLES WESLEY

And I wonder how many people might be singing that song, but they are like iron fountains in the park. You see a lion statue as a fountain, and there is water spewing out of his mouth, but he never tastes a drop of it. And I am wondering if there are those of you who have that song coming out of your mouth without tasting a drop of it.

Was there a time, was there a day, when you said, “Praise God, bless God, hallelujah, I know, that I know, that I know, that I have met Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord.  I have a day to be remembered.”  If not, do you know what my prayer is? My prayer is that this day will be the day that you will be able to sing those words and taste every drop of every word.  The Lord wants you to be saved, and only Jesus can save you. The problem is sin. 

Rom 3:23
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
KJV

And there’s only one thing that can be done with sin, and that is to bring that sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us and make us pure and make us clean.  So, you need to pay attention to the message that God has for us in this story.

Click on the play button so that you can listen to what God has to say about how you can know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord.

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

Amen.

WHAT WAS ONCE HIDDEN, BECOMES KNOWN (Genesis 41:53 to 42:28)

WHAT WAS ONCE HIDDEN, BECOMES KNOWN (Genesis 41:53 to 42:28)

Have you ever had a sin that you buried in your past and never dealt with God about it?  No matter how hard you tried to forget it, did it just keep coming up from your subconscious mind to your conscious mind?  During the day when I have lots of other things to keep my mind focused on, I do okay, I can forget about them for a while.  But, whenever I get someplace away from all of the hustle and bustle of the day, like when I am in bed trying to go to sleep, that is when all those things that I have kept buried all day long come out as things I need to worry about.  

Now, as a believer, the devil will try to accuse you of sins that have already been forgiven.  He does it just to make you feel guilty.  Yet, the Bible tells us it is wrong to feel guilty about something you have already been forgiven for, and have had that sin cleansed by the blood of Jesus.  But there is a difference between the accusations of the devil and the convictions of the Holy Spirit of God.  

Conviction is the Holy Spirit saying, “This and this and this you have done,” and like a good doctor, He’ll put his finger right on the sore spot, and He will push.  He will call it by name and want you to confess it and be cleansed.  And once it is cleansed, it is so wonderful.  You will know the conviction of the Holy Spirit because He will be specific in His convictions of your heart.  

Did you know that if you are child of God and you sin, spiritually you’re going to feel dirty?  And if you don’t feel dirty when you sin, then you need to ask yourself if you’ve ever been saved.  If you have ever truly asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, and made Him you Lord and Savior.  No pig has ever said, “Woe is me, I’m dirty.”  For a pig has no concept of being dirty because that is his element.  The child of God realizes that he is dirty when he sins, because he knows what it is to be clean.  If you are a child of God, and you’ve sinned, then you have felt that.  I want to say this again, just so there is no mistake, if you can sin and don’t feel dirty and grimy, spiritually, you need to ask yourself: “Have I ever been saved? Do I really know the Lord”

Click on the play button below to hear a message on the consequences of sin in the life of a believer.

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

Amen.

GOD'S PLAN UNFOLDS (Genesis 41:1-53)

GOD’S PLAN UNFOLDS (Genesis 41:1-53)

I just love it when a good plan unfolds and it goes just like it was supposed to happen from the very beginning.  Now, that doesn’t happen very often for me, but it always happens when God plans something.

Last week, we left Joseph in prison, forgotten by his family, forgotten by Potiphar, and forgotten by the butler who had promised to tell Pharaoh about his plight.  Almost every person that Joseph had come to depend on had forgotten him.  But Joseph’s faith was not in man, it was in God.  While everyone else may have forgotten Joseph, God had not.  God had a plan and a purpose for Joseph’s life, and He was making it come true.  

This is the reason that God gives us the story of Joseph.  As believers, we know that God has promised to be with us every step of our lives.  Through hardships and trials, as well as the good times of our lives, God is with us.  Our strength does not come from men, or the world.  Our strength lives within us.  God has placed His Holy Spirit in our hearts to be our strength, and it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that God gives us the power to endure any trial that is placed before us.  

Click on the play button to hear a tremendous message about the power of God’s working in the lives of those who love Him.  Joseph faced tremendous trials in his life, yet God was there with him each step of the way.  Yet this only happened because Joseph fully and completely surrendered his life to the will of God.  God would have handled it anyway without Joseph, but just look at the blessings that Joseph would have missed in his life if he had not been obedient to the call of God in his life.  

Just imagine the blessings that you have missed in your life, simply because you have not been obedient to the call of God in your life.  God used an obedient Joseph to perform great works in His name.  What works can God use you for, if you will be obedient?

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

Amen.

WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (Genesis 39:20-23)

WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG (Genesis 39:20-23)

Have you ever had one of those days when everything goes wrong? Have you ever had one of those years when everything goes wrong? There are some years like that, when everything seems to go wrong. What do you do?

I’ve always been amazed at the advice that people give to other people. It sometimes seems like good advice. For example, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Tell that to a person who’s really hurting. Or here’s another one that will really bless your heart: “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” Now, doesn’t that just bless your soul? Can you see a guy dangling over a cliff, trying to tie a knot. It takes two hands to do that.  If you try that, then you will fall.  Or here’s one that’s really sweet: “Grin and bear it.”  Now, really, that’s what the world tells us to help us in our times of loss, to help us to understand why these bad times are happening. Or you’ll be really hurting. I mean, you’ll be in darkness and consternation. One of your friends will come along and put his arm around your shoulder and say, “Cheer up! It could get worse.” Well now, that’s a lot of comfort: “Could be worse.”  One person said in response, “Yeah, I cheered up, and it got worse.” He was right. 

Now that, really, is what the world does when the world cannot understand.  Listen, there are times when you, as a child of God, will find yourself in difficulty, and darkness, and consternation.

Click on the play button to hear a message on one of the greatest testimonies that we can share with the world is how we face tragedy and loss.  How we deal with events when it seems like everything is going wrong in our lives is the difference between a life of hope, and a life without hope.  It is that hope, based on the absolutely certain promises of God, in our lives that gives us the strength to face whatever it is that God allows in our lives.  

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

Amen.

THE FAITH OF JOSEPH (Genesis 39:1 to 40:23)

THE FAITH OF JOSEPH (Genesis 39:1 to 40:23) 

In today’s message we will discover that Joseph is a very different person than his brothers were.  The single biggest difference in Joseph’s life is that he is a man of faith.  Joseph distinguishes himself as something in the world, but different from the world.  When people see him, they notice something different about him, and they are drawn to him.  People are not drawn to failure, or to those who are walking around with despair hanging like a cloud above them.  To be an effective witness for God you have to have something that people want; they see your ability to handle trials in your life, your calmness in a storm, and your faith in the promises of God.  They see something that they do not have, they see something different in you.

Joseph had every reason to just give up in despair; to simply hide in a corner and weep.  Joseph was sold into slavery because of the hatred and animosity of his brothers.  And to be a slave in a foreign country is a life that is described as a slow death.  It was certainly a bleak prospect for a seventeen–year–old boy.  Joseph would have had to look hard to find anything to bring encouragement to his heart.  

There is no person in the Old Testament in whose life the purpose of God is more clearly seen than Joseph. The providence of God is manifest in every detail of his life.  The hand of God is upon him and the leading of the Lord is evident.

The question of why God allows trials in our lives, is one of the hardest lessons we face as believers, but it is also the thing that strengthens our faith in the power, and protection, of an almighty God that loves us and is gracious to us.  

Click on the play button below to hear a message on how each step of Joseph’s life prepared him for the role that God had for him.  If we are the children of God, in the will of God, then we can have the assurance of God, that nothing comes to us without His permission. 

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

Amen.

GOD'S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE (Genesis 37:1 to 39:3)

GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE (Genesis 37:1 to 39:3)

Let me start this blog by making a statement and you tell me if you believe it or not.  Are you ready? God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.  Now, do you believe that?  Well, I want to tell you, that without a doubt, God has a wonderful plan for your life. God has a divine destiny for you. And, what a shame it would be if you missed it. Today, I want you to think with me on this subject, “God’s plan for your life.”

Now, I’m not just saying that God has a plan for Abraham’s life, or Joseph’s.  Certainly, God had a plan for their lives, but God also has a plan for your life. Yes, even you.  God has a wonderful destiny for you, and I don’t want you to miss it.  Even in your old age, God has a plan for your life.  Otherwise, you would not still be here on this earth, for there would be no purpose in it, and God has a purpose in all that He does.  And, I believe as we study the life of Joseph today, we are going to find some things about his life that we can certainly apply to ours as we learn how to know God’s Plan for Your Life.

Click on the play button below to hear a message on how you can discover God’s plan for you. How you can let God give you a plan and a purpose for your life. I’m not talking about something you cooked up, but be in contact with God so however God wants to speak to you, He can. And, I believe the way that God wants to speak to New Testament Christians is presentation plus transformation equals revelation, that we might know the things that God has prepared for us.

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

Amen.

JOSEPH THE BELOVED SON (Genesis 35:16 to 37:17)

JOSEPH, THE BELOVED SON (Genesis 35:16 to 37:17)

One quarter of the book of Genesis is devoted to Joseph.  God describes the creation of the universe in just five words when He said “He made the stars also;” but He uses chapter after chapter to tell the story of a man that is not even in the direct lineage of Christ.  Actually, more chapters are devoted to Joseph than to Abraham, or to Isaac, or to anyone else. More chapters are devoted to Joseph than to the whole first 2,000 year period of man’s existence from Genesis chapters 1–11. This should cause the thoughtful student to pause and ask why Joseph should be given such prominence in Scripture.

There are probably several reasons. One is that the life of Joseph is a good and honorable life.  God wants us to have whatever is good, virtuous, and great, before us, and Joseph’s life is just that.  The second reason is that Joseph was a true man of faith.  Joseph was a prince among a world of men.  The faith of Joseph was an undying faith.  Joseph’s faith was a faith that believed despite adverse circumstances.  The interesting thing about Joseph is that he had faith in the dream which was given to him, faith while in the pit into which he was placed, faith all the while he was in Egypt, and faith was what buoyed him up through all the problems in his life. Joseph believed that God was going to give the Promised Land to his family.  Joseph believed in the impossible: that God would move his people back to the land promised to Abraham.  Therefore, he commanded that his bones be taken back when the nation of his family returned to the land.  And when the children of Israel left Egypt, they took up his bones and buried them at Shechem in the Samaritan country.

There is a third reason that God would spend this much time on Joseph, and it is a great one. There is no one in Scripture who is more like Christ in his person and experiences than Joseph. Yet, nowhere in the New Testament is Joseph given to us as a type of Christ. However, the parallel cannot be accidental.

Click on the play button attached to this message to hear a message on one of the most famous men in the Bible, Joseph, and listen to how Christ is revealed to us in this man’s life.

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

Amen.

JACOB'S NEW NATURE (Genesis 32:28 to 33:20)

JACOB’S NEW NATURE (Genesis 32:28 to 33:20)

Jacob is now going to have to face his brother Esau.  As we look at this scene, we see a difference between a believer and a non-believer.  Here we have Esau, the all-American male, he was an outdoorsman, noble, probably the best athlete in the land at whatever he tried, he was generous, and likeable, yet he was a non-believer.  Then, we have Jacob, who was devious, a schemer, hated by almost everyone he dealt with, yet he had a desire for the things of the Lord, and he had met with the Lord, and now he had a new nature.  

Robert Laidlaw asked this question in his book “The Reason Why.”  He said “I know a polished, cultivated, gentlemen, who is not a Christian, and I know a rather crude, uncultured, man who is a Christian.  Do you mean to tell me that God prefers the uncultured man simply because he has accepted and acknowledged Christ as his Savior?”  That was his question, and it certainly fits the way that most non-believers would look at things.  People are drawn to successful people, to jovial people, and to polished people.  But God is not.  

Robert Laidlaw answered his question in this way “A Christian is not different in degree from a non-Christian, he is different in kind.  Just as the difference between a diamond and a cabbage is not one of degree but of kind.  The one is polished, the other is crude, but the one is dead while the other is alive, therefore the one has what the other has not in any degree whatsoever—life!  And such is the difference God sees between a Christian and a non-Christian.” 

That was the essential difference between Esau and Jacob.  As a man, Esau was a far more open, honest, out-going, person than Jacob.  He was a terrific person, but he was spiritually dead.  Jacob was a natural-born schemer, but he had spiritual life.  

It was a difference of kind, not degree.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how Jacob found out that not only was there no good in his old nature, but there was also something you may not realize; there was no strength or power in his new nature.  Our new nature, given to us by God, cannot, by itself, enable us to live the Christian life.  Simply being saved does not make you stop sinning.  Jacob found out that it is through Jesus Christ that your help is going to come.  Our strength and power come through Him. 

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

Amen.