The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

NOAH’S UNSINKABLE FAITH (Hebrews 11:7)

God tells us in the Bible that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  This means that without a word from God on a matter, you cannot, you have no basis, for a Biblical faith. Faith is not a leap in the dark.  It is a step into God’s light.  You must hear from God.  Faith is not name it and claim it. The Bible is clear that You believe it and receive it, because God has named it, and you claim it. Now, that’s very important. You do not name it and claim it. You believe it and receive it, because God has named it, and you claim it. God does the naming. You do the claiming.

The Biblical word “hope” does not mean maybe, perhaps, or I wish. But hope means bedrock assurance. The Bible calls hope an anchor of the soul. It is solid, and the word “substance” or sub-stand means something beneath us that we can stand upon. Where do you get this assurance, this bedrock assurance, called hope? From the Word of God. God speaks.

Did you know that God speaks today? God has His written Word once and for all, settled. But then, God speaks to your own personal heart, and when God speaks to your heart personally, you have a rhema from God, that’s when you find faith growing in your heart and in your life.  You have to hear from God in order to have faith.  It is not just of God that you need to hear about, it is from God that you need hear.  You hear God. In order to believe Him, you don’t just hear about Him; you hear Him.

The apostle Paul says in 2 Tim 1:12, “I know whom I have believed.” He didn’t say, “I know in whom I have believed.”  Paul said that I have believed Him.  I heard from God, and I believed what He said to me.  Faith is believing God when He speaks personally to you. You must have faith that hears God.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to have an unsinkable faith in God.

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

Amen.

APPLYING GOD’S TRUTH (Proverbs 23:23)

Our message today is on the subject of truth.  Now, the idea of real truth is something that is an often-discussed issue in our society, and everybody seems to think they can subscribe to their own version of truth.  The idea of God, as our Creator, having the sovereign right to determine the absolute truths that govern our world, is certainly rejected by the majority of our society.

We have a generation today that does not know how to differentiate between truth and facts. Now facts deal with knowledge, and knowledge may double, but truth, never. If it is new, it’s not true. Truth is settled in eternity. 

Prov 23:23
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
KJV

So, we have substituted facts for truth. Not that facts in themselves are wrong. Facts are stubborn things. But there is a difference in acquiring facts and learning truth. We’re drowning in facts. What’s the difference between facts and truth? Facts are like a recipe; truth is the meal. When you digest the truth, it will change your life.

Now, the Bible says, “Buy the truth, and sell it not.”  When the child of God looks into the Word of God, and sees the Son of God, and is changed by the Spirit of God into the image of God, for the glory of God, I believe he has learned the truth of God. 

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to apply God’s truth in your life, and how that truth will set you free.

Amen.

FINDING JOY IN YOUR WORK (Proverbs 14:23)

The title of the message is “Finding Joy in Your Work,” and I want to tell you, if you understand what God has to say in this message, it’s going to transform your work. It’s going to change it from boredom to blessing. It’s going to change it from monotony to meaning. It’s going to change it from drudgery to dignity. It’s going to change it from the same old grind to glory, if you understand what God has to say to us in this message today.

You see, so many people are sick and tired of what they do. I mean, they endure their work, whatever it is, they don’t enjoy their work. They think their job is meaningless. They think that some people have happy jobs, some people have exciting work, some people have thrilling things to do, but not them. They draw their breath and draw their salary. They wake up in the morning and take a bath, shave, go down, drink a cup of coffee, eat a piece of toast, scald their throat because they’re running a little late, drink their coffee too fast, then they run out and fight the traffic and get to work. It’s the same old thing day after day. Then they come home at night, take a couple of aspirins, sit down and watch the TV, discuss things with the wife, maybe putter around in the yard a little bit, then go to bed. The next day, the same old thing: nothing exciting, nothing meaningful, nothing thrilling. It just seems to be so humdrum, so meaningless.

Ok, I can already see the wheels turning in a lot of your minds because your saying, “Bro. Keith, you are a little late with this lesson because I am retired.  I don’t have to work anymore.”  If that is what you are thinking, then shame on you.  Did you know that God doesn’t have a retirement program for Christian believers?  If you are a Christian, and you are still breathing, then God has work for you to be doing.  If that were not true, then God would have taken you to heaven.  So, if you are still here, then God has work for you to do.  Now, I am not talking about religious work, I am talking about God’s work, whatever God calls you to do.

Now, there are others who might be saying, “Bro. Keith, I don’t work at a regular job, I just stay at home taking care of my family.”  Let me tell you that the work that a wife and a mother does taking care of her family is one of the most important jobs there is in this world.  The greatest God-given role of a mother is pointing her children to Christ. The greatest desire of a mother who loves Jesus, is that her kids come to know Jesus as their Lord and savior, and then live their lives for Him.  Just imagine, you get to partner with God in the daily discipleship of your children and in leading them towards a saving and sanctifying knowledge of the truth.

The same can be said for a wife, and about the love and support that she gives to her husband.  Once the kids are gone, some women can feel that their purpose is over.  But that is simply not what the Bible tells us.  Just as the husband is to help his wife be all that she wants to be in the eyes of God, it is the wife's responsibility to help the husband become all that God wants him to be.  

The point that I am trying to make is that it doesn’t matter if you are a widow, a retiree, 25 or 85 years old, single, married, or working every day at a job place, God has work for you to be doing, and this lesson is about finding joy in that work.

Click on the link below to hear a message about how to have joy in the work that you do for God.

Amen.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD‘S WISDOM (Proverbs 8:1-13)

Our message today is about the characteristics of God’s Wisdom.  The things about God’s Wisdom that makes it so beneficial and good for our lives.  

During the week as I work on these messages, I sit in an office at home that is mostly quiet.  My wife doesn’t make much noise, and there are no kids living with us anymore to make a racket.  The only real noisemakers are our dogs, and one in particular, that cannot stand to have people walking up and down the sidewalk in front of our house.  He especially can’t stand it when a package is delivered to the front door.  So, for most of the time that I am studying, it is real quiet.  Sometimes too quiet and I will turn on a selection of piano solos of hymns in the background to give a little bit of noise to focus my mind.  

I have learned that most of us can operate at two levels of thought, one of direct focus, and another in the background.  For example, most of us can have an instructor behind us walking us through how to do something while we concentrate on the task at hand. However, if a third person tries to talk at the same time, we cannot manage it.  For me, I can be focused on studying and composing the lessons with God speaking as my instructor, but in the background, the activity of the day wants to intrude on my mind and distract me.  So, I will play a selection of piano solos of the old hymns that I grew up with and love so much.  I don’t have to concentrate on them because I know them so well, and they don’t distract me, but they do help to shut out the events of the day that are trying to distract and take over my mind.  It is like having God speaking to me through His word and His music at that same time.  It fills up my two levels of thought and I can study.

Now, I study very differently than how my father did.  He used books and hand wrote everything.  I do all of my work on a computer.  I hand write very little.  All of my notes are on the computer.  I have 26 versions of the Bible on the computer.  I have all of my reference material, commentaries, inter-linear Bibles, sermons, Greek and Hebrew translations on the computer.  They are all available to me at the touch of a button.  Yet, that same computer puts at my disposal all the news of the day, entertainment, and connection with my friends and family via the airwaves and the internet.  All in a machine that I work on in my quiet office, in my quiet home.  Often the only sound is the clicking of the keys as I type.

It is all available to me, but as I type my lessons, I’m not even aware that all of that communication and entertainment is there. If the music gets too loud or distracting, I can turn the volume down, or up, or even off.   

Yet, I also have a different kind of receiver in my room. The highest and holiest wisdom is as close as that computer, but it is not on that computer.  This different receiver sits on a table right next to me and it is my old Bible.  The one my parents gave to me 40 years ago as a graduation gift.  It is still very special to me.  The Bibles on my computer are just study tools, there is nothing special about them, I never use them to really open my mind to God.  However, there is just something special about being able to reach out my hand and take up that Book of books, turn its pages, and open my heart and mind to the words of the Holy Spirit. The wisdom of the Word—the revealed and inspired wisdom of the living God—is right there in my room.  God’s Wisdom is never farther away than that Book.  It calls to each of us.  It says, “Unto you, O men, I call.”  God speaks to me when I listen to the words found in His book and apply them to my heart.

God’s Wisdom says that “All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.”  All the words of the God’s book are inspired by God, they are true, righteous, and nothing twisted can be found in them.  We may not understand all of the Bible, and we may not always interpret it properly. Nevertheless, every word of the Bible is God-breathed, divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, and wholly dependable. All of God’s words are righteous. All of God’s words are right. We may not like them, and we may not want to obey them, but they are right.

The Scriptures contain unfathomable depths. How could it be otherwise when the words are those of an infinite God? A man can study the Bible all his life and still feel he has but touched the fringe of Inspiration’s garment. At the same time a little child can read and understand the Bible. It is that simple.

There is enough truth in the Word of God to save a soul and truth enough to occupy the sharpest mind for a lifetime.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the characteristics of God’s Word.

Amen.

TO LIVE A VICTORIOUS LIFE (Proverbs 4:14-27)

This message is about a task that God has given to every born-again believer.  That task is to allow the light of Jesus to shine through us to reach a dark world full of people who need to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  What makes this challenging is that we must live our lives in such a way that brings glory to our Lord, and still avoid the sin that is around us.  I believe that is one of the reasons that God has given us the book of Proverbs.  To show us how to live a victorious Christian life, in a world full of sin.

God’s wisdom is the key to living in this dark world that is full of evil.  Satan would like nothing better than to destroy the witness of a child of God.  The world likes nothing better than to see a righteous man fall.  This chapter of Proverbs is giving us the instructions from our Creator to live a victorious Christian life so that we can bring people to Christ and eternal life.

Click on the link below to hear a message on God’s instruction manual for living a life that honors God.

Amen.

WIDSOM CRIES OUT TO YOU (Proverbs 1:23-33)

In our message today, Solomon discusses wisdom.  The interesting thing is that while we think of wisdom as something we obtain or achieve, Solomon describes wisdom as a person.  A person who cares for you and wants to teach you and guide you.  But most of all, the image that we are given is that of someone issuing a warning to those who are headed down a path that will lead to their destruction.  

It is like the lighthouse that shines its light out to the ships to warn them of dangerous reefs or shoals.  It reminds me of the old-time railroad switchmen who would signal trains with a green or yellow light to signal that all was well on the tracks, or a red light when there was danger ahead, like a bridge being out.  I think of wisdom as that switchman standing by the tracks with his red signal light, just to watch the train speed on by ignoring his signal.  I think of the tragedy of the people on board that train who will die because the train engineers disdained the warning from the switchman in their arrogance and pride.  

This is what our lesson is about today, God has given us His wisdom, in the form of His living Word, and it cries out to us to stop heading down a path to our certain destruction.  People ignore the cries of God, they disdain those who share His word, and they will lead themselves, and their families, friends, and loved ones to tragedy because of their own pride and arrogance.

Wisdom looks at the simple, the scornful, and the foolish.  She cries out to them, but these people cannot be bothered with wisdom.  They are so wrapped up in the world around them, that they do not have time to stop, look, and listen to her words of life.  Having money is more important than listening.  Succeeding at their job is more important than listening.  Going to school is more important.  Life in this world is demanding, keeping up with the Jones’ is hard, keeping the family fed, the clothes washed, the car running, and the dogs walked and fed, is hard.  There is no time to stop to look at some person standing by the road shining her red warning light, and listen to their words of life.  So, they go on in their self-centered, pride, and arrogance.  

The days of our lives are short and hurried.  During these days, we search for the answers to many of life’s most important questions.  If we are wise, then we discover that, apart from divine wisdom, we have no satisfying answers to any of these questions of life: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? What is life all about? Why is evil so prevalent and triumphant? Is there life beyond death? Is there a God? How can God be known? 

Only the wisdom contained in the Bible can answer these questions with the wisdom of the Creator of all things.  Foolish answers to these questions are plentiful, but they are all wrong to a greater or lesser degree. Wisdom stands, calls, and is disregarded, so she reproves us of our foolishness for listening to the answers of man.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how wisdom stands by the roadway at the intersection of the broad way and the narrow way.  She is holding her warning light out to those who will heed her words.  Each of us have a choice, to follow God’s Wisdom or reject it.  The consequences of that choice have eternal implications.

Amen.

TO CHOOSE DARKNESS OVER LIGHT (John 19:1-15)

Jesus came to this earth to reveal the true nature of the sin that is in the heart of every person. He came to show the world that there was a way out of the darkness of sin and into the light of truth and eternal life. But Jesus was judged and condemned to die on a cross by a world that did not want to come out of the darkness to have their deeds reproved. They chose darkness over light.

John 3:19-20
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
KJV

All of us face this timeless challenge and respond one way or another. Salvation, and eternal life in heaven, is not about our works, it is about what we decide to do with Jesus Christ. Just as the men who rejected Christ did, we either cry "Crucify him" or "Crown him." There is no middle ground. You can’t work your way into heaven, pay your way, or be religious enough to be saved. You must decide to crown Him Lord of your heart or crucify Jesus in your heart. Just like each of the men who put Jesus Christ on trial, you must decide to crucify an innocent man, or make Him your Savior.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Jews and the Gentiles alike rejected the one true Son of God and the free gift of salvation and eternal life that He offered them.

Amen.

STUBBORN UNBELIEF (John 12:37-50)

Jesus Christ has been my Lord and Savior since I was a young man. His Holy Spirit has lived in my heart for more than 50 years. In fact, it is hard for me to remember a time when the Holy Spirit was not my constant companion in everything that I did. I have chosen to live my life in the center of God’s will. I am God’s servant and that is the desire of my heart, to serve God in all that I do. However, that has not always been the case. There have been periods of my life when I have ignored Holy Spirit who lives within my heart. I have put Him in closet within my heart and told Him that He was not welcome in certain areas of my life. I wanted Him close by if I needed Him, but otherwise I didn’t want to be bothered. I wanted to live my life, my way. Now, every single time I did that, the Holy Spirit convicted me, chastised me, even took me out to the woodshed to discipline me. In short, I failed in all aspects of my life when Jesus was not first in my life. It is when Jesus is the President of my life, not just a resident, that I truly live an abundant life in the way God wants me to live.

As a result of this lifelong relationship with Jesus, it is sometimes hard for me to understand why someone would choose to reject Jesus as the Son of God, as their Lord, and as their Savior. Knowing what I know and what it has meant to me, it just doesn’t make sense to me why the vast majority of people would turn away from the free gift of eternal life in heaven with Jesus. It boggles my mind. Yet, it is true. Whether it is for self-centered reasons, or to chase after a false religion, they deliberately, willfully, and knowingly, choose to reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It doesn’t mean they cannot be reached. It doesn’t mean that they are morally bad people. It just means that, so far, they have made a deliberate decision to reject Christ. It means that if they were to die today, they would spend eternity in Hell, without God. Unfortunately, the longer a person lives rejecting Jesus, the harder it gets to ever reach them with the truth of who Jesus is. In other words, their mind is set in its ways. Their heart becomes hardened to the gospel message that is found in the Bible. They say, it cannot be true. That the words of the Bible have been corrupted by man. When you die, you die, and that is it.

Listen to me, the Bible is the one true word of God, and the God that I believe in, is powerful enough to protect His word from any efforts by man to corrupt it. If you believe that man can corrupt God’s Word, then you do not believe in the same almighty Creator of all things that I do. You do not believe in the God of the Bible.

I also believe that there comes a time in everyone’s life when they must choose Jesus as their Savior, or to reject Him. The Holy Spirit is patient with each of us.

2 Peter 3:9
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.
KJV

Jesus declared that He stands at the door knocking.

Rev 3:20
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
KJV

Jesus wants you to choose Him, but when the Holy Spirit determines that your decision is final, He will stop convicting you, and walk away. He will harden your heart to the word of God, and you will be doomed to die and go to Hell.

Click on the link below to hear a message about how the Jews, in their stubborn unbelief, finally rejected Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus stopped knocking, stopped pleading with them, and then hardened their hearts.

Amen.

A LAST ATTEMPT (John 12:23-36)

Have you ever had an event or an experience that you knew was going to be really, really, bad in front of you? You knew it needed to be done, people were depending on you, but you had a few days that you had to get through before it would begin? The waiting, the dreading, the sheer horribleness of it playing on your mind. I can think of things like watching my mother’s last few days on the earth, and the suffering she was dealing with. I knew her death was imminent. I knew it would happen in the next few days. I knew she would be in heaven soon, but I had to steel myself for the emotions that would come.

A soldier facing some kind of really tough battle. He knows the chances were slim that he was going to make it, but he couldn’t let his brothers in arms down. These were men he depended on, and they were the ones who depended on him, so he prepared himself to deal with it.

This is what our next few messages are going to be about for Jesus. He knew this was the reason that He had come to earth. His whole life had been about this coming hour. The entire human race depended on Him completing the work of salvation. He knew that He was about to carry the burden of every sin that had ever been committed and would ever be committed. He knew the ugliness of the world’s worst sins was about to be thrust upon Him and He would have to die as punishment for that sin. He dreaded the hour, but He knew the whole world depended on Him, and so He prepared Himself. There was so much He needed to do before that hour came, but His disciples needed to hear what He had to say. These next several weeks are going to be a study in how much Jesus loved each and every one of us, even the Jews and the Romans who would crucify Him.

Click on the link below to hear a message on what is likely the Lord’s last attempt to convince the Jews that He was the Son of God, the Promised Messiah.

Amen.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD (INCLUDING ME) (John 3:16)

What was the very first Bible verse that you can remember memorizing?

It would be John 3:16 for me. In fact, with my memory going away in my old age, it is probably the only verse I still have memorized. I know lots of verses by their context, but if it wasn’t for the internet search engines and the Bible concordance on my computer, I would have a hard time finding them. But John 3:16 is one I still remember.

So, why do you think that is? Why would this verse stay with me so readily, when others do not? It is because it tells me of God’s love for the whole world, but it is written in such a way, that it seems like He is talking to just me. God loves the world, but the word whosever means including me.

Who does the verse say loves this poor lost world? The one, true, almighty God. The eternal, self-existing, uncreated, and having need of nothing, God. It is God, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. It is God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It is God, who takes the initiative. It is God, who loves and gives. It all begins with God.

That God is “not willing that any should perish” is a great Biblical truth that is revealed to us. John tells us in 3:16 that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That is God's earnest desire for all the children of Adam. The gospel invitation is extended to all. If you want to make the invitation of this verse personal, then put your own name in the verse. For example say, For God so loved the world (including Keith Martin), that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever (including Keith Martin) believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God’s plan for salvation, includes me, even me. God does not want me, or you, or anybody else to perish.

The word Perish is a word that should make us all tremble as we think of the consequences of our sin against God. The word perish reveals the other side of God's character. He is not only a God of immeasurable love, he is also a God of infinite holiness. It is the finality of the word that terrifies us. Death, and what occurs on the other side of death, is a mystery to the lost person, but John 3:16 brings clarity to the mystery. In it, God puts a choice before us. He says, “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.” The choice that God gives us is to believe in Jesus Christ or perish. If we reject Christ, then God will allow sin to complete its work beyond the grave of condemning the soul to an eternity in torment.

But that is not what God wants for us. God would have every person come to repentance. That is why the invitation of John 3:16 is universal, hinging on believing in him. Those who do, become heirs of everlasting [eternal] life. God created us with eternity in mind. We have an immortal soul and spirit that will exist for all of eternity. This great verse, which summarizes the whole gospel story, begins with God and ends with everlasting life. It begins with one who had no beginning. It ends with that which has no ending.

The fact that Jesus Christ has come into the world provides each person with the ultimate test of believing or disbelieving, of choosing whether to continue in their sins and surely perish, or whether to believe in him and pass from death to life. The coming of Christ into this world is the single decision point of eternal destiny for each of us.

This great verse is the essential foundation of the gospel of Christ. God loved the world, including me, so much that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever, including me, believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Don’t walk away and reject such a gift. Choose Christ. Choose eternal life.

Click on the link below to learn just how much God loves you.

Amen.