The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

WHEN DEMONS RULE (Revelation 9:1-12)

The Bible declares that there is a day coming when Hell will have a holiday, demons will rule, the Antichrist will come and dominate the world, and Satan’s plan for the earth and mankind will come to fruition for a season. In chapter nine of the Book of Revelation we read that an angel will open the bottomless pit and out of it will come a horde of millions upon millions of the most vile and terrible demon spirits to torment those who are on the earth. They will inflict agony, pain, and anguish to such an extent that men will cry out for death to come, but death will flee from them. It will be a time of great terror upon the earth.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon on when demons shall rule upon the earth and to learn the good news of the gospel message of Christ. As believers today, we can shout praise God, hallelujah, and Amen, because the Bible promises us that before the day when demons will rule takes place, Jesus Christ will come and take the church age believers up to meet Him in the air at the rapture. We will not be on this earth when this day occurs.

Amen and amen.

THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPET JUDGMENTS (Revelation 8:5-13)

There will be three sets of judgments during the tribulation period:

Under the seal judgments, the world is ruined by man. Events recorded under the seal judgments are extensions of things that are very evident in today's world. The chief difference is that the church will be gone, and to a great extent, restraint will be removed. The evil seeds men have sown will grow and bear fruit.

Under the trumpet judgments, the world is ruled by Satan. A vast and new dimension of the supernatural is introduced. Satan is cast down to earth; the planet is invaded by hordes of evil spirits; Satan's plans for this earth are matured.

The last set of judgments during this period will be the vial judgments, where the world is rescued by God. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Satan's empire is dealt blow after blow by God Himself, until at last the Lord, accompanied by His saints, returns from glory to put an end to this world’s woes.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon on the start of the trumpet judgments. We will see the power of Satan and his superman the Antichrist ascend to rule the world. The people of the earth will have rejected Christ, and now God is about to let them have what they wanted, a ruler with no morals, no goodness, totally corrupt, and having the destruction of the entire human race as his goal. Make no mistake about it, Satan hates mankind because we are God’s creation. Man was created by God to worship God, and Satan cannot stand that. He has spent every day since he fell trying to corrupt and destroy God’s creation.

Listen to this study of the first four trumpets of the Tribulation Period.

THE SEAL JUDGMENTS (Revelation 6:7-17)

The Bible tells us in the Book of Revelation that a period of massive cataclysmic events is going to occur. We call this the Tribulation Period, or The Great Tribulation. Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew that they will be events unlike anything that has occurred in the past, and unlike anything that will occur ever again. There will be great earthquakes that are felt all around the world. The sun will go dark and the moon will hang in the air like a clot of blood. Wars will occur, famine, and pestilence. There will be great persecution of the anyone who refuses to worship the Antichrist. The death toll will be overwhelming. Billions of people will die from all of these events. But the good news is that you do not have to be here to endure these events. There is a way out, and it is the way up, and His name is Jesus Christ.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon on the opening of the seal judgments during the Tribulation Period as we continue our verse-by-verse study of The Book of the Revelation.

THE FIRST THREE SEALS ARE BROKEN (Revelation 6:2-6)

We are at a point in our study of the Book of Revelation where the Tribulation Period is beginning. The church has been taken out in the rapture, the restraint of the Holy Spirit has been removed, the world is in chaos, and into this chaos, Satan’s superman, the Antichrist will step onto the scene. The Scriptures tell us that there is some day going to arise an individual who will be the embodiment of all Satanic power. He will be known as the willful king, because he shall do according to his own will. He will have no respect for sacred things or places. He will allow the Jews to rebuild the temple, and then he will betray them by erecting a throne in the Most Holy Place and seat himself upon it. He will proclaim himself god, and men will be commanded to worship him. Satan will give him his power, his throne, and great authority.

When the Antichrist begins to go forth, everyone will proclaim that a savior has come to bring world peace. Indeed, at that moment in time, the world will be ready for the devil’s messiah. And he will take full advantage of his hero status. The world will worship at his feet. Little children will speak his name with reverence. Men will lay down their lives for this man. He will personify all of the Caesars, Napoleons, Hitlers, and Stalins rolled into one, and he will have sinister plans for military conquest.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon on the opening of the first three seal judgments of the Tribulation Period. The Antichrist will come, war will follow just as surely as night follows day, and then, as a result of the war, worldwide famine will spread across the world.

WHY BRING TRIBULATION (Revelation 6:1)

Our lesson today begins in chapter 6 of the Book of Revelation, and what we will see in this chapter is that the world is on a collision course with judgment by God. That may not be a socially acceptable message, and some of the more sensitive of our society are probably running for their safe spaces right about now, but it is certainly true.

So, when I say that the world is on a collision course with judgment by God, what does that mean? Many people think that judgment only involves the active stance a judge takes when he delivers a sentence to the guilty person. But a judge can also take a passive stance, letting the chips fall where they may and allowing the consequences of one’s behavior to serve as the judgement. This passive stance is how God will judge the world in these next few chapters. There will come a time for God to take the active stance of condemning those who have rejected Him. But first, God will simply let the world have its own way.

Think about it. How hard has the world been trying to deny the existence of God? How hard have they rebelled against God’s morality, and divine truths about right and wrong? How hard have they persecuted Christ’s followers trying to eradicate them from the face of the earth? How hard have they tried to deny that Christ is the Son of God, that He was born of a virgin, and that He died on the cross for the sins of the world? That He was buried and rose, bodily, from the grave, and then ascended into heaven, promising that one day He would return to reign in power forever an ever? How hard have they tried to prove that none of these things are true?

One of God’s methods of judging the world during the Tribulation Period will be to simply let the world have its way. Ironically, when the world gets what it wants, it will not want what it gets. Jesus describes the Tribulation Period as containing such horrible events beyond anything that has happened in the entire history of mankind.

So why would a loving God allow such horrible things to happen?

Click on the link below to learn that the answer to that question is to bring God’s chosen people, the Israelites, back to Him, and to restore them to their position in His Kingdom. The Tribulation Period is about the Jews, not the church.

GOD'S THRONE, GOD'S JUDGMENT (Revelation 4:3-11)

The last couple of weeks, our emphasis has been on the rapture, and what a wonderful event that will be for those of us who are prepared for the coming of our Lord Jesus. With the beginning of chapter 4, we turn the page from the things which are, meaning the church age, to those things that are to come. The thing that is most prominent in the rest of this book, is the judgment of God. God has said that vengeance, or judgment, is His, and we are about to study a whole series of judgments where God will judge all of humanity that has lived from the creation of Adam and Eve to the last born person before the consummation of all things. God will judge the earth, and all of His creation. He will judge Satan, and all of the fallen angels, the antichrist, the false prophet, and all of the demons of Satan. He will judge both the saved and the lost of humanity. No one, and no thing, will escape the coming judgment. God’s judgment is real and it is coming soon.

Heb 10:30
30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
KJV

In chapter four of the Book of Revelation, the Lord is setting the stage for the multiple judgments that are coming, and the very symbol of God’s judgment, is God’s throne.

Click on this link to hear a sermon on the throne of God and how His judgments will be viewed by all who kneel before Him.

A DEAD CHURCH (Revelation 3:1-6)

When I say that a church is dead, what does that mean to you?

Can a conservative church be dead? Can a liberal church be dead? Can a legalistic church be dead? How about a church with a large beautiful campus with services filled to capacity multiple times a week, can that church be dead?

A dead church is one that no longer exists to serve Christ. It serves tradition, or religious ritual, or the world, but not Christ. If your tradition, or ritual, is more important than what the Word of God says, then you are in a dead church. We have many dead churches in our world today. In fact, we have many more dead churches than we do live ones. Some of these churches started out as Holy Spirit led churches, but as time wore on, and tradition and ritual set in, the church let the fires go out, and they existed to serve their religion, not Christ.

Many, large, popular, churches, are dead churches. They may sing all the right songs. They may say all the right Scriptures. The preacher may have a compelling message, but Christ is not the focus of their worship. In fact, they won’t even mention Christ, or sin, or Hell, or the final judgment. They will talk about a far-off, distant God, who set the world in motion and then stood back to watch how things turned out. They may have their own prophet who gives a more enlightened word that they follow. A church that does not serve and worship Christ as their Lord and Master, is a dead church.

Clink on this link to hear a sermon on a church that the Lord Jesus calls a dead church.

IS IT NICE TO BE NARROW-MINDED PART 2 (Revelation 2:18-29)

One of the greatest lies that Satan has put in the minds of Christians is that it is not right to stand up for the absolute truths that are found in the Bible. Satan, and the world, say that it is not nice to narrow-minded in our beliefs, for we might offend someone. They ask how can you, as a Christian, possibly be so sure that you are right, that you would take such an offensive stance as to say that another person’s religious beliefs are wrong? Are there not many ways to please God and have eternal life?

I am here to tell you today, that there is only one way to find eternal life and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. God tells us in His Word that it is ok for us to confront error in the church when it raises it head. In fact, He commands it and that we commit a sin when we fail to do so. Now, it must be done Biblically, and lovingly, and firmly, but it must be done.

Click on the link below to hear the second part of a sermon about a church which thought it was nice to be broad-minded about their faith, and what the Lord had to say about that. What the Son of God says about being tolerant of those who would teach something other than what is in the Scripture.

IS IT NICE TO BE NARROW-MINDED PART 1 (Revelation 2:18-29)

Is it nice to be narrow-minded? Is it ever nice to be intolerant? I looked up the definition of the term narrow-minded, and it was not willing to listen to or tolerate other people’s views. The opposite of narrow-minded would be broad-minded, which surprisingly is defined as tolerant or liberal in one’s views and reactions. It actually used the example of a broad-minded approach to religion. Certainly, in today’s politically correct society, being a conservative and being narrow-minded about things like politics, morality, the meanings of the words found in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the right to life, and your religion is a good way to find yourself the target of a bunch of intolerant, socialist, progressives who feel it is just fine to be narrow-minded about the things they believe in. But, is it a good thing to be narrow-minded?

I would say that we would prefer our doctor to be narrow-minded in the prescriptions that he writes for us. If we went in and we said we were hurting all over, and the doctor, said well, Ok, what color of pills would you like today, the pink, the blue, or the purple ones? I think we would all tell the doctor that we wanted him/her to be more narrow-minded in their treatment of us. When I get on an airplane, I want the pilot to be narrow-minded about who he lets fly the plane. If he came back and just picked a passenger at random to fly the plane, in the spirit of being broad-minded, I would likely find a way to get off that plane. Most of you know that I handle firearms quite a bit. I shoot at ranges, at competitions, in practice, and in training. I will tell you that I am very narrow-minded about how the people around me are handling their firearms. I will even speak up and get on to somebody when they are doing something I think is dangerous. So, I am narrow-minded in that situation, and I believe it is a good thing to do.

So, there are certainly times when it is nice to be narrow-minded. How about in our church? Should we be narrow-minded in our church?

What if a member accepted the position of a Bible study teacher and began teaching a doctrine that was different than one of our core doctrines. I don’t mean something like eschatology, we can disagree on eschatology, but what if they were teaching the doctrine of salvation by faith and works, instead of salvation by grace and not works? Should we be narrow-minded or broad-minded about that? Should we stop the teaching of that doctrine, or allow it in the spirit of being open-minded, or broad-minded in our approach to our faith? If you believe we should stop it, whose job would it be to stop it?

Click on the link below to hear a sermon about a church which thought it was nice to be broad-minded about their faith, and what the Lord had to say about that. What the Son of God says about being tolerant of those who would teach something other than what is in the Scripture.

THE JESUS WHO STANDS BEFORE US TODAY (Revelation 1:14-18)

We talked last week about a few things we could surmise about what Jesus looked like the first time He came, and compared that to the one portrayed in the paintings that we see, pictures, movies, and books today. The best example of this image is found in the painting of the last supper by Leonardo Da Vinci, showing Jesus with long hair, long white robes, and gentle in nature. If there is a picture of Jesus hanging in the church, it will be of this Jesus, the one man created because the Bible does not give us a clear description of what Jesus looked like the first time He came. Certainly, this is the image that people have in their minds when they think of Jesus today. When they use the name of Jesus in vain, this in the Jesus they are thinking of. When they declare that Jesus was nothing more than a good man, a prophet, or a teacher, this is the Jesus that they are thinking of. This is a Jesus that you can choose to ignore, or to reject, make fun of, or even deny that He ever existed, because there is nothing intimidating about Him.

However, even if this movie image of Jesus was correct, and I don’t believe it is, it was what Jesus looked like before the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of our Lord. The Jesus that stands in heaven today as the High Priest in the Holy Tabernacle of God, does not look anything like that Jesus. That Jesus was approachable, almost indistinguishable from everyone else. He looked like a common man, with nothing desirable about His appearance to draw our attention to Him. The one that stands before us today, retains the humanity of that Jesus, He has the scars of the nails in His Hands, but everything else about Him speaks of His deity, His glory, and His almighty power as the Creator of all things. The Jesus that stands before us today, is in the full glory of God. There is nothing meek or gentle in His nature or appearance, and when the world sees Him as He is, they will fall to their knees in worship and awe. No one will deny that this Jesus exists, nor will they ignore Him, or curse Him.

Click on the link and learn about the Jesus that stands before John as he hears a voice that sounded like a trumpet, and he turned and saw a vision of the resurrected, risen, glorified, Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Jesus who stands before us today.