The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

A DRESS REHEARSAL FOR CALVARY (Genesis 22:1-14)

In Genesis chapter 22, we come to an absolute mountain peak in the spiritual life of Abraham.  This chapter is one of the great, great, chapters in all of the Bible.  Chapter 22 is the account of Abraham’s obedience to God’s command of offering Isaac as a burnt sacrifice. God commanded him to offer Isaac on the altar and then restrained him at the last minute when He saw that Abraham was willing to go through with it. If you were to designate the ten greatest chapters of the Bible, you would almost certainly have to include Genesis 22.  The Word of God makes it clear that God requires a life to be given up in order that He might save sinners.  And there is no one among the children of men worthy to take that place.  Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son was the only One capable of fulfilling that role. 

In terms of depicting great truths about the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, this chapter easily compares with Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. In our message today, we will see the similarity between the sacrifice of Isaac and the sacrifice of Christ.  It is no accident that this similarity exists.  The Bible is full of repeated types and symbols that point to the real event in order to prepare us for what will happen.  In this case, God is revealing the Gospel of the sacrifice of Christ for our sins to His beloved servant, Abraham.

On Mount Calvary, one day, men would see God providing Himself as a lamb. One day, on this place—this sacred place—God has provided Himself a lamb. And that’s the reason when John the Baptist saw Jesus Christ, who was God in the flesh, John the Baptist pointed to Him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)—for the Lord, Jehovah Jireh, has provided Himself as the lamb.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the Word of the Cross, a dress rehearsal for Calvary. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” (John 3:16) There was no reprieve for the Son of God. There was for Isaac, but not for Jesus. And God knew that one day He would spare not his own Son, because He loved you that much.

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

Amen.

THERE IS NO PROBLEM GOD CANNOT SOLVE (Genesis 17:15-17)

These three verses contain four wonderful, wonderful, truths that you need to learn.  I want you to get these four things about a strong faith emblazoned in your heart, etched upon your consciousness.  I want them to reverberate through your soul, because I want for you what I want for myself, a strong faith.

The first is that Strong Faith Releases the Grace of God. Faith is the key.  It just opens the door and gets you in there where grace is, or it gets grace out here where you are. 

The second is that Strong Faith Relies on The Guarantees Of God.  Strong faith always relies on God’s guarantees. It does not rely on you, on what you wish, or what you want, but on what God has said. 

The third is that Strong Faith Recognizes the Greatness of God.  True faith is rooted in the promise, but not only in the promise, but in the One who promised. And so, if you are to have faith, not only must you have the Word of God, and a word from God, you must also understand the character of the God who gives this Word.

The fourth is that strong faith reveals the glory of God. The greatest way that you can glorify God is to believe Him.  

Click on the play button above to hear a message on the most important part of God’s grace that we can apply to our hearts and lives.  It is the foundational truth that we need to understand that our faith is based on. That truth is that There Is No Problem God Cannot Solve.  You will never have to say that something is too difficult for God to do in your life.  It is that truth that lets the peace of God rest in our hearts, for we have the omnipotent, the omniscient, and the omnipresent, God who can solve any issue, and any problem, that we might face as we serve the loving, living, God of all creation. 

God said to Abraham, “Abraham, I’m going to give you a son.” Abraham was 100 years old. Sarah was 90. It was humanly ridiculous, so much so, that Abraham laughed, and yet he turned, and he believed God.  How did he do it? Well, first of all, he said, “I know God that you want to do it by your sheer grace. And so by faith, I’m going to release that grace.”

Faith releases grace. It relies on God’s Word. It doesn’t look for anything else. It just simply takes the Word of God and gets a word from God. And, thirdly, the faith that relies on God, relies on God because it knows God’s character. It just simply is aware of who God is and what God can do. And, therefore, it just glorifies God. It just simply says, “God, I want to give you the praise. I’m going to give you the glory. I’m not going to stagger in unbelief.”

Now, if you’ll do that, then God will make you a person of strong faith. 

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

Amen.

TO BE STRONG IN FAITH (Genesis 17: 15-17)

Archimedes was a philosopher and physicist, and he said, “If you will give me a lever long enough, if you will give me a fulcrum with something to rest it on, and if you will give me a place to stand, I can move the earth.” He was right.  For us, that lever is faith, that fulcrum is the Word of God, and that place where we stand is in His grace.  With it, not only can we move the earth, but we can move heaven as well, if we learn to be strong in faith.

It is strong faith that releases the grace of God.  Rom. 4:16 says, “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace …” meaning that without faith, you will never know grace, “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure.” 

What is grace? Grace is “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” Grace is God giving us and showing us His great wonderful love. There’s nothing we can do to deserve it, or to earn it.  Grace is the unmerited love and favor of God that is just given to us. 

Now, how can you get in on this unmerited love and favor of God?  Only by faith! If you begin to work for it, if you begin to pay for it, then it is no longer grace.  It is no longer grace. If it is by grace, then by definition, it is no longer works, otherwise work is not work.  And, if it is by work, then by definition of the word work, it is not by grace, otherwise grace is no more grace. This is what the Bible says. You can’t mix grace and works, so the only way that grace can be grace is through faith.  That is the only way that grace can be grace.

Now, it is important to understand that unbelief holds grace prisoner.  If you are an unbeliever, grace will never work in your heart and in your life. The Bible says it is by faith so that it can be by grace. 

Click on the play button above to hear a message on how a strong faith is the key to unlock God’s grace in your life.

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

Amen.

THE PROMISE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (Genesis 17:1-8)

Did you know that the Jews are less than 0.19% of the world’s population? And yet more than twelve percent of all the honors in science, in health, in medicine, in music, in philosophy, and in public life have been garnered by these amazing people. The Nobel Prize is one of the highest prizes that men of learning confer upon one another. In the last fifty years, one-third to one-fourth of the Nobel prizes have been given to these people who only represent 19- hundredths of one percent of the population. Why is this? I believe that God in a very special way has His hand upon these people. They are the people of destiny.

You can study history and find some amazing things. Did you know that it was a Jew that financed Christopher Columbus’s voyage to find this New World? Did you know that on board that ship when Columbus set sail was a Jew and he was the first man to set foot upon these new shores? Did you know that? 

Did you know that a Jew, Hiram Solomon, financed George Washington and the Revolutionary War as we fought for our independence from the British? Did you know that? You don’t realize what an influence these people have had on your life. 

Click on the play button to hear a message on the promise that God makes to Abraham that He is giving to Abraham and his seed, “all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”  I believe that God meant exactly that. I believe the word everlasting means everlasting.  What God is saying here is an iron fist upon history.  The Sovereign God is definitively saying that certain things are going to be done. What God is saying here is His plan to bless you, and to bless me, and to bless the nations of the world. This indeed is a blessing, a promise, that has changed the world, and it will give us understanding if we today will take the Word of God and let it speak to us as we study together.

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

Amen.

ABRAM’S VICTORY (Genesis 14:1 to 15:5)

In today’s message we will discuss a meeting between Abram and Melchizedek, the King of Salem, and then we will see a particularly seductive temptation of Abram when the meeting between Abram and the king of Sodom occurs.  God will always prepare us for the temptations or trails that we will face, and in this case, He brings Melchizedek out to meet Abram first.  

As I read these verses, several questions just jump right out at me. To begin with, where did this man Melchizedek come from? He just walks out onto the page of Scripture with bread and wine, he blesses Abram, and then he walks off the page of Scripture.  It makes me want to know where he came from, then I wonder where he is going, and I wonder what his business is when he is not out greeting Abram.

The Scripture tells us that he is the king of Salem, but it also tells us that he is a priest of the most high God. Which brings up another question:  How did he find out about “the most high God”?  Melchizedek describes God as the most high God, which means the Creator of heaven and earth.  In other words, the living God, the God of Genesis 1, the God of Noah, and the God of Enoch. This is the One true God that this king, named Melchizedek, is the priest of. 

Click on the link below to hear a message that gives us the answers to these questions.  Learn that the Bible describes Melchizedek as a type of Christ, or an illustration of Christ.  Melchizedek compares to Christ in that the Lord Jesus comes out of eternity, and He moves into eternity.  He has no beginning and no end.  He is the beginning.  He is the end.  You can’t go beyond Christ in the past, and you can’t go beyond Him in the future.  He encompasses all of time, and all of eternity.  

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

Amen.

THE RISE AND FALL OF BABYLON (Genesis 11:1-9)

In today’s message we are going to learn something about that mighty city called Babylon, which symbolically, and cryptically, and prophetically, stands for the consummation and the distillation of all evil.  And pay attention, because “The Rise and Fall of Babylon” is not something that just happened in the dark, musty past, or something that’s going to happen way off yonder in the future. It deals with realities that we are facing every day. And we’re going to find out something about the person and work of the devil as we study here in Genesis chapters 10 and 11.  We are going to learn about this wicked city of Babylon, which was both the cradle and the grave of all false religion, and the devil’s kingdom.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how Babylon is destined to fall. Just as this ancient tower of Babel crumpled so long ago, we find that the final full-blown Babylon is coming down; it is crashing down. And I want to tell you something: You may not have ever realized this, but the first time that the word “alleluia” is used in all the New Testament is after Babylon falls. You won’t find the word “alleluia” used any other time. But it is after Babylon falls that the “Alleluia Chorus” begins. 

Rev 19:1-3
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
KJV

Rev 19:6
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
KJV

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

Amen.

 

NEW WORLD, SAME OLD SIN (Genesis 9:18 to 10:10)

NEW WORLD, SAME OLD SIN (Genesis 9:18 to 10:10)

When the Flood was completed, eight people came out of that ark.  All the people who had turned away from God had now been destroyed by the judgment waters of God.  The earth was fresh and new.  Noah had been given a new covenant relationship with God.  Noah had sanctified the earth with a burnt offering in gratitude to God, for providing salvation to himself and his family.  So, now everything should be perfect, there should be no sin, and everybody should live happily ever after.  Right?  Well, what is obvious from this portion of Scripture is that even though this is a new beginning in a new world, it is the same old sin that is still there.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how we are to deal with sin that occurs in our brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is important to understand that hatred, discontent, and anger in a church will destroy the effectiveness of the Spirit of God in that church.  Self-righteous pride about the failing of another brother will quench the Spirit of God in that church.  You cannot be in the will of God and be harboring hatred or disdain toward one another.  

No matter what this Christian has done, if we want this church to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit, we cannot harbor discontent, hatred, or anger, toward someone within our own church, or to another Christian. We are instead to have a fervent charity, or an agape love for one another.  The word fervent means that it is to be at full strength.  We are to have a biblical agape love, at full strength, for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  

Why should we have this fervent charity? Peter tells us, “for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” The purpose of this fervent love is to build a spirit of unity within the church.  When we love one another, we look past each other’s faults.  

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.

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.

IS MAN JUST A CLEVER ANIMAL? (Genesis 1:27-30)

IS MAN JUST A CLEVER ANIMAL? (Genesis 1:27-30)

Today’s message is about the supreme question that divides the secular world that believes in evolution, and those who believe in the creation of all things by God.  The Bible tells us that on the sixth day, God created the man and the beasts of the field.  Now, that means that there must be a relationship between the two.  Today, I want to look at that relationship and answer the question, Is Man Just a Clever Animal?

When we stop and compare men and the animals, we can see a similarity in design, a similarity in diet, a similarity in death.  Now, we need to recognize the similarities between man and the animals, but I also want you to see the differences between men and animals.  

Not only does man have a craving for Deity, and not only does man have a capability for dominion, but man also has a capacity for depravity that animals don’t have. Animals cannot sin, but on the other hand, animals can’t love God.  In order for men to love God, they have to have the capacity, or the capability, to sin. God gave man that ability. You ask, “How could men sin if God made everything perfect?” Well, when God made man, God made him with the capacity to choose. And God had to make him with the capacity to choose. If he didn’t have the capacity to choose, he wouldn’t be a man.

But, most importantly, man has a conception of his destiny. He has a comprehension of the fact that he is going to die. But he knows that doesn’t end it all. You cannot crawl up in the grave and pull the dirt over your face and hide from God. When God made you, God made you in His image. God breathed into your nostrils the breath of life.  You could no more cease to exist than God Himself could cease to exist.  You’re going to exist somewhere—dateless, timeless, endless, measureless. Your soul is worth more than all of the stocks, the bonds, the gold, the silver, the schools, the railroads put together. 

Animals are not going to live forever. When an animal dies, he’s dead.  There was a time when you were not, but there never again will be a time when you shall not be. You were created in the image of God. God says something about man that He doesn’t say about the animals. The Bible says that He made the animals, but He created you. He took animals and made them out of preexisting stuff, but God did a unique creation when He made you, and you are made in His image, and man has a concern for his destiny. I hope you have a concern for your destiny as well. 

Click on the play button to hear a message that answers the question, Is Man Just a Clever animal?

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

Amen.