The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

ARE YOU THIRSTY? PART 1 (John 37-39)

Let me start by asking a question, how important is religion in your life? You see, I would say that religion is really only a small part of my life. I come to church on Sunday and participate in the form and the structure of a typical Protestant church. Certainly, there are differences in the religious rituals that are performed between the different Christian religions, but there are some basic similarities as well. Now, I am no expert on all Christian religions, but there is generally a sanctuary where everyone meets, there will be some music, some Bible verses read, and some preaching of one kind or another. The music may be contemporary, or it may be traditional hymns. It could be lively, with a bunch of dancing and shouting, or it could be almost silent whispers. The preaching may be fire and brimstone, or much more formal. It could be topical in nature, or it could be expository in nature. It could be entertaining, or it could be a real snoozer. Hopefully, it is someplace in the middle, but I have to admit that I have slept through a good share of the services I have been in. While there are differences, the basic building blocks of a worship service are all there in one form or another.

So, let me ask that question again, but just a little differently, how important is the style of the religion to you? How important are the traditions that created that style to you? How important are the rituals that are performed in that service to you?

Now, most people don't need more religion. We've got enough religion. What we need is a personal, vital relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What we need is true salvation with joy. We need to draw water from the wells of salvation.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how we should stop enduring religion. You need to ask yourself, why do you come to church on Sunday? Do you come to be blessed, or do you come to bless others? The importance of that answer is critical to your attitude as you walk into the doors of your church. Are you coming as a taker, or as a giver? Are you coming to check the box of obedience, or are you coming as a servant?

Are you thirsty?

Amen.

TRUST IN JESUS (John 6:25-36)

Have you been looking for true happiness, true joy, true peace, and just not been able to find it? It is because you are looking for the wrong things in the wrong places. If you want true happiness, and joy, and peace, then trust in Jesus Christ.

Happiness, joy, blessedness, and satisfaction, are never things that you find by searching for them. They are the things that you stumble over when you serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You are to seek Him preeminently. It is Jesus that you need, and it is in Jesus that you will find all that you have been searching for.

The people of this world want fame. They want fortune. They want friends. They want fashion, and they want fitness. Jesus tells us that they are seeking after the wrong things. Yet, these are the things that most people want. They are what they seek most of all in their lives. Jesus tells us that they are looking for satisfaction in the wrong places. Listen now, none of these are wrong in themselves. Fame and food and fashion and fitness and friends, they're all fine in their place, as long as that place is second place.

Matt 6:33
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
KJV

Jesus tells us to seek God first, seek God preeminently, and all the things that God has planned for you shall be added unto you.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to find the satisfaction, the happiness and joy, that you have been searching for. Most people today are working hard at changing their lives, trying to make them better using the things of the secular world, but all they are doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. All they are interested in is making the world a better place to go to hell from. What our Lord Jesus Christ is offering, is everlasting life. He is talking about getting a person saved. Jesus is spiritual bread that gives everlasting life.

It is in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, that you will find what you are looking for.

Amen.

HOW TO WORSHIP GOD (John 4:7-24)

Do you know what the word worship means? Well, you can almost hear it as you pronounce the word worship. Say it out loud, only this time say worth ship. Say it a little faster worth ship. Now, say it even faster worth ship. What does the word worship mean? It means that when we worship God, we are giving to Him, and attributing to Him, and assigning to Him, our estimation of His worth. When we worship God, we are showing Him how much He is worth. Not just to you and me, but His total worth.

You see, God is God and God deserves that we worship Him because there is no other God. It is God who made us. It is God who created us. It is God who sustains us, and it is God who is all glory. He deserves our worship because there is no other like Him. We have to learn that God is not going to bless anybody who doesn't worship Him. You have got to learn how to worship, if you want the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.

When we begin to worship, then God begins to work, and there is nothing that will wipe the devil out like worship and praising the Lord. If it seems like God is not real to you, if it seems like when you pray your prayers are dry and ineffective, try worshiping God full of praise, and you'll have the power of the Holy Spirit in each of your prayers. Worship the Lord, praise the Lord, give him the glory due to his name, because God demands our worship.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to worship God. It must not be wrapped up in a building or shrine. It must not be formalized to the point of being frozen. A frozen church service is a dead church, and the Holy Spirit will not work in a dead church. There must be joy in our worship, and our worship should be full of praise to the one and only Almighty God. It must also not be fantasized. True worship is when we worship the God of the Bible, not some God that you have created to meet your social ethics. If you are not worshiping the God of the Bible, then you are not worshiping in truth and in spirit. Learn to truly worship God and the watch the power of the Holy Spirit come alive in your life.

Amen.

THE KEYS TO A HAPPY LIFE (1 Peter 3:8-12)

When I chose the title to this lesson, I decided to do an internet search on the phrase, The keys to a happy life.  If you can imagine, there were lots of people out there who are ready to tell you what the keys to a happy life are.  I saw titles like, 14 keys to a happy life, 10 keys to happier living, 21 keys to a happy life, and one from Psychology Today saying The key to living a happy life today.  As I looked at these my first thought was that for there to be so many results in this internet search, there must be a lot of people looking for happiness.  That may seem obvious, and I didn’t need to an internet search to know that this was true, it was just a confirmation of my thoughts.  Happiness, true happiness, can be elusive in this secular world that we live in.  

The thing that all of these sites had in common was that it hinged on you, how you thought about events, what you focused your thoughts on, how you were to let the less important things go by and not worry about them.  Living for the “now” as one site put it.  It was all about you, and what you could do for yourself.  You were in control of your happiness, and I am not going to deny that some of this is true, we are in control of how we deal with life’s tragedies.  But the wonderful thing about being a Christian is that we don’t have to face life alone.  We have the Holy Spirit of God living within us.  We have His power to depend on.  We have His wisdom to guide us, and we have His love and joy to fill our lives with true happiness.  Yet, many Christians totally ignore this benefit, and look to the secular world for their happiness.  If I were to be able to see the hits on those search results, I would bet you find just as many Christians looking at them as you do non-Christians.  

Let me tell you something really important here, they are all looking in the wrong place.  There is no true, eternal, happiness away from God.  He alone can give us the type of joy that overwhelms us.  We just have to look to Him for that happiness which already exists within us.  The wonderful good news is that we already have the key to happiness within us, we just have to activate it.  So in today’s lesson we are going to close out this section on how a Christian is to live a life of submission to the various authorities and laws with the goals of glorifying God and winning others to Christ, and then we are going to talk about God’s five keys to a believer’s happy life.  I say a believer’s happy life, for it is only the believer that has the Holy Spirit of God living within them.  

How many men and women today, who are involved in living for the things of this world, suddenly wake up and find that it’s not worth it? Life is monotonous, and life is not worth it. No wonder they commit suicide in growing numbers every day.  It is not until you come into a right relationship with God that you can live life to its fullest, and find the happiness that we all seek after.  

LOVING GOD EQUALS JOY IN YOUR HEART (1 Peter 1:8)

We live in a world where true joy can be hard to find at times.  I want you to think back to the last time that you felt your heart so overcome with joy, that it was just bursting out of you.  Troubles at home, or with a family member, friends, your health, your work, these are all things that we worry about, or have problems with, and it can seem like real joy is hard to find, right?

Certainly, as I think back to times when there was real joy in my heart, playing in the backyard with my kids when they were young.  Sitting with my wife next to a babbling mountain stream, just relaxing and enjoying the view and the companionship. Holding a newborn grandchild in my arms. Watching my son be ordained into the ministry.  These are some of my memories of a heart full of joy.  

However, joy in the life of a believer is to be so much more than just an emotion of happiness.  In our lesson today, Peter is going to tell us that the joy a believer has in his heart is the reward that God gives us for truly loving Him.  When we love God, we will find God’s gift of joy in our heart.  So if this is true, why do we not always feel full of joy?  Certainly, I love God, you love God, as believers, we all love God.  Yet, was joy the first thing you thought of when you got up this morning to come to church?  Did you say, "Good Lord, its morning", or did you say, "Good Morning, Lord!"  Think about it and be honest, where was your joy?

Joy comes from the Lord.  It resonates from our spirit, and it is placed there by the Holy Spirit when our heart is filled with the Spirit of God, and the love of God.  It is sin that separates us from this Joy.  When we allow satan to have a place in our heart, be it from holding a grudge against somebody for some harm they did you, or from some secret sin in your life, anything that detracts you from loving God, the joy that God gives us will not be gone, but it will be harder to find.  Remember, loving God equals joy in your heart.  The more you love God, the more joy that you will have.  The more you allow satan into your life, the harder your joy will be to find.  It really is that simple.  

Loving God equals joy in your heart.  Want more joy, then love God more.  Listen to this podcast to learn how to have a heart full of God’s joy even when there is trouble all around you.