The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM (Genesis11:10 to 12:8)

Chapters 11 and 12 of the Book of Genesis mark an important turning point in the Scriptures.  Up to this point, the story has been that of the whole Adamic race.  There has been neither Jew nor Gentile.  All have been one in “the first Adam.”  

From this point forward in the Scriptures, the human race must be seen as a great river from which God, in the call of Abraham, and the creation of the nation of Israel, draws off a small stream through which He may at last purify the great river itself.  Israel is the tool through which God chose to bring a Savior to the world.  It is important for us to note that neither Abraham, nor Israel, were perfect, they didn’t do anything special to deserve this.  In fact, as we will see today, Abraham was far from perfect.  But, when God spoke to him, Abraham responded, and that is exactly what God was looking for.  It was by grace that God chose Abraham, and the nation Israel, to bring revelation and salvation to the world.  It was through the faith of Abraham that the nation Israel would be called.

Click on the play button to hear a message on how our obedience to God comes after we have stopped telling God what we want to do, and listen to what He wants us to do.  Let me illustrate that with a question, how much of your prayer time do you spend telling God what you want, rather than being quiet and listening to what He wants to tell you?  That is a measure of how much you harken/obey God, for you cannot obey God until you know what He wants you to do.  Abraham was obedient to God because he listened, and then transformed what he heard into action.

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

Amen.

THE FLOOD-PART II (Genesis 7:2 to 9:17)

As part of the story of The Flood, the Scripture tells us about the patience and long-suffering of God.  It says that once Noah and all the animals were in the ark, God waited for a full week, and nothing happened.  No doubt the crowds outside the ark were having a great time making fun of the whole thing.  Their hearts were already hardened.  Even after years of having God’s prophets warning man of the coming doom, God showed man a final measure of grace by waiting a full week before the flood began.  

This means that for a full seven days they still had the opportunity to accept God’s offer of salvation, yet they abused His long-suffering, His patience, and His kindness for the last time.  That extra week of grace was offered to bring them to repentance, and instead they condemned Noah and His God.  Without a doubt, the people of the time of Noah had “treasurest up unto” themselves “wrath against the day of wrath” and were ready for the “revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

Click on the play button to hear a message on how God’s final judgment was delivered on a world that had turned away from the Almighty God of all creation.

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

Amen.

NOAH’S ARK (Genesis 6_12 to 7:1)

Today, we are going to be talking about Noah’s ark, which is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel message of salvation. Now, don’t think for any moment that the story of Noah’s ark is a fable or a legend.  No, it is a true story. If you are a student of history, you will find out that all of the great civilizations have a flood story. Of course, the one in the Bible, given by divine inspiration, is the true story and the accurate record. But the fact that all civilizations have a flood story tells us that this roots back to fact. But, the truth is that we don’t need what any other civilization has to say, if we have the Bible.

The ark, just as our baptism, is a type of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This ark, here in the Old Testament, pictures and portrays the Lord Jesus Christ, because it is a reminder that all of the Bible is about Jesus, all of it, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus is the hero of the Bible.

Click on the play button above to hear a message on how Noah’s ark tells the gospel message of salvation.  It tells us that we are saved by grace, through faith, unto good works.

By grace. It wasn’t in the goodness of Noah, but in the grace of God. Salvation is not in the merit of man, but the mercy of God.  Salvation is not a reward for the righteous; it is a gift for the guilty.

Through faith. It is not faith that saves us; it is grace that saves us.  It is faith that brings us in contact with that grace. By grace, through faith. Noah was saved because he committed himself to that ark.

Unto good works. We work not for salvation, but from salvation. It is by, through, and unto—unto good works. And indeed, Noah served the Lord. He did all of these things, but not in order to be saved, but because he was saved.

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

Amen.

THE FAITH OF NOAH (Genesis 5:25 to 6:10)

In our message today, we begin a section of verses that describes The Flood and the reasons that God brought destruction to His creation.  From the time that God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden, God had blessed man, and man had been fruitful and multiplied.  In a relatively short period of time man had populated the whole earth.  Yet, instead of recognizing the God that created him, man had turned away from God, and reveled in his own abilities and knowledge.  And as happens every time man turns away from God, man had degenerated into total depravity.

What was the condition on the earth before the Flood? What caused God to bring the judgment of the Flood?  

Genesis 6:5
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
KJV

But as we see throughout the Bible, there was a remnant, someone left who still believed in God.  Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”  The Bible tells us that grace is the unmerited favor of God; it is getting something we do not deserve.  Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  But it goes beyond that, why did Noah find grace in the eyes of the Lord?  It is because “Noah walked with God.”  It wasn’t because he deserved it; it wasn’t because his good works outweighed his bad; it was because Noah walked with God.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the faith of Noah, and man who preached righteousness for a period of 120 years without a convert, other than his family, and witnessed to the grace of God.  

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 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.

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.

ROOTING OUT BITTERNESS (Hebrews 12:14-15)

Today’s message is about a problem that many Christians have, and it is called bitterness.  It is bitterness that blows out the candle of joy and leaves the soul in darkness, and I am afraid more people have a root of bitterness than we dare think.  Bitterness has done untold damage to communities. It has done untold damage to churches, and untold damage to homes.

I am convinced that bitterness does more to hold back the power of God and revival than liberalism. Bitterness does more to hold back the power of God and revival than does alcohol or pornography.  Bitterness keeps the people of God from having the power of God, and the holiness of God, that they need in their hearts and in their lives. Unfortunately, much of this bitterness, is found in the people of God. We have bitter brothers, sour sisters, caustic Christians, and the Bible speaks of a “root of bitterness.”

Click on the play button above to hear a message that will help you identify bitterness in your life, and how to deal with it.  How to root bitterness out of your life.  

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.