The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

CAN'T GOD DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT? (Revelation 9:15-21)

I think that we can all agree that evil is certainly growing around us today. In spite of the restraint of the Holy Spirit during the day that we live in, evil is still on the rise. Men murder others. Women even murder their own children, and now we have children who become murderers in their own homes and schools.

Yet, most of all, may God have mercy on the murderers of unborn babies. May God send His Spirit to bring repentance to every man and woman who has participated in this most heinous act against defenseless little babies. People today get upset and wonder where the judgment of God is for the perpetrators of terrorism and mass shootings, but the number of people who die all across the world from terrorism is but a fraction of the murders of babies that occur each year in this country. It is a sin that God will hold this country accountable for. It would be easy to wonder where is God in all of this, and why isn’t He doing anything about it.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon on the Biblical truth that timing is more important to God, than time. God has a plan to deal with all of the evil of this world and in all of creation. That plan is on time. God is never early, and He is never late. Nothing, or no one can stop or change that plan. Not Satan, or all of his demons, for Satan is but a creation, and God is sovereign.

We started this series by asking Doesn’t God know? Doesn’t God care? And if God knows and cares, then why isn’t He doing something about it? God knows, and God cares. It is man that has turned his back on God. That no longer wants to know God. That no longer cares about God.  Yet, we have still have a chance during this age of grace that we live in to turn to God. God loves you. Lay aside your pride. May the mercy of God through His Son bring the saving judgment of eternal life to you today, so you will not be lost in the fires of Judgment for all of eternity.

Amen.

WHERE IS GOD? DOESN'T HE CARE? (Revelation 9:12-14)

With events like the terrible tragedy that occurred in Las Vegas last week, it would seem that everything not nailed down is coming loose, and that Satan is busy at work prying loose everything else. Every day it seems that evil is growing and dominating the world. It would be easy to understand if there are people who are asking Where is God? Doesn’t He know? If He knows, doesn’t He care? If He knows and cares, can’t He do anything about it?

Click on the link below to learn that God does know, God does care, and God does have a plan. If you want to know where God is, He is right on time. With God, timing is more important than time. If you want to know if God knows and hears your prayers, the answer is yes, they are before Him as incense. If you to know if God cares, yes He does, He cares so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross so you do not have to. If you want to why God is not doing anything, God says, just wait, my plan will occur just as I said it will, because I am sovereign, and nothing, and no one, can stop or deter my plan. Amen.

THERE IS NO PROMISE TOO HARD FOR GOD TO KEEP PART II (Revelation 7:1-8)

This Biblical truth is important to all believers because it gives us assurance that when God says something in His word about the future of the world, the future of the heavens, the future of the lost, and especially the future of believers, we can trust that it is true. That what God says, God will do. This allows us to stop worrying about the future and focus on the task that God has for us to accomplish to move His purposes and plans along.

We are to be looking for and hasting the day of God, which is that day when Christ completes all that He is to do and delivers the kingdom to the Father so that God can be all in all. We are to be working on witnessing and bringing lost souls to Christ, that is our purpose and that is our reason for being here. Not all of us are evangelists, but all of us have a role to play, and a story to tell about how real God is in our lives, and what He has done for us.

We cannot be bashful about praising our Lord, for people want to hear that God is real and working in this world. This is the missing element in so many people’s lives. Man was created to worship God, and when they do not, they have a hole in their lives. They know something is missing and so they try to fill it with all kinds of things, and yet there is still a hole. It is our testimony that can help them find the Lord Jesus Christ to fill that hole.

Click on the link below to learn how one way that God fulfills His promise to Abraham that all of the families of the earth will be blessed by the children of Israel. God chooses 144,000 Jews from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, He seals them, and they become His servants to spread the gospel message of Christ during a time of Great Tribulation. There is no promise too hard for God. Amen.

THERE IS NO PROMISE TOO HARD FOR GOD TO KEEP (Revelation 7:1-8)

We may be the last generation of church age believers that live on this earth. We may very well be the ones who are alive when the rapture occurs, the trumpet sounds, and the Lord comes with a shout to take us home. What a day that will be when we are called to meet our Lord in the air, and so we need to be ready. We need to have our rapture shoes on, but this should not be a call to stick our heads in the clouds of prophecy. Someone once said that way too many Christians are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.

The promises that we are about to read about in chapter seven should not cause us to put heads up in the clouds, but they should cause us to put our feet on the pavement of serving and soul winning. The blessed hope for which we await is not an incentive to rest, but to work. Jesus said that we are to occupy till I come. He didn’t mean for us to take up space, he meant for us to get to work because we know the future. Our occupation is our job, and we need to get busy.

Chapter seven of The Book of Revelation is about making sure we know that God is going to do all that Word of God says He will do. It is about giving us a more sure word of prophecy. It is about giving us assurance that our future is secure. Because, it is when we know that our future is secure, that we can focus with all of our heart on the present job that Christ has assigned each of us as believers. We are here on this earth to work for Jesus.

We each have a task to complete, a role to play, and a job to perform. If this were not true, then Jesus would simply take us to heaven the moment we made Him our Lord and Savior. There would be no reason to keep us here, for we do not work for our salvation, and we cannot lose our salvation by failing to work. So, if the Lord did not have something for us to accomplish that furthered His purposes and plans for this world, then He would just take us up.

God knows the number of souls that must be saved before the day of the Rapture comes and the end of the period of grace occurs. We are tools that the Holy Spirit uses to bring those souls to Christ. We pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance on where those souls are, and which ones we are to evangelize to, and then we labor to bring them in for the Holy Spirit to do His work. In doing so, we hasten the day of His coming. We learn about our future in eternity by studying the Book of Revelation and the other books of prophecy. In doing so, we learn that our future is secure. With that settled, we can then focus on working to hasten that wonderful day.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon on the mighty God that we serve, and the certain knowledge that there is no promise that is too hard for God to keep.

JESUS IS EXCLUSIVELY WORTHY (Revelation 5:1-5)

Let me begin this post with a few personal questions.

1) Do you have a cause worth living for?

2) Is what you are living for, worthy of Jesus’ dying for?

3) When you get where you are headed, where will you be?

When you put our short, mortal, lives in the context of eternity, many of us are shoveling smoke and plowing water. When this world is done, much of what we have done will make no difference whatsoever. Think about it, how much of what we have worked so hard for in this life, will extend beyond the grave, or will even exist after Jesus Christ destroys this world and creates a new heaven and a new earth?

Years ago, Reader’s Digest had an article that said in order for a person to have a meaningful life, they need three things. First, they need someone to love. Second, they need something to do. Third, they need something to hope for. I think Reader’s Digest is right, but they did not say who or what that something was. That something is Jesus Christ. He is the One we love, the One we serve, and One in whom we hope. Jesus Christ is the only One worthy of my love, my life, my all, and yours.

The fifth chapter of Revelation talks about the One who is worthy, Jesus Christ. And it brings home the fact that each of us will never have satisfaction and fulfillment, or understand why God created us, until we come to worship Him.

Click on this link to hear a sermon on just one of three things that this chapter says about why our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is worthy of our worship.

A ROAD MAP OF THE END TIMES (Revelation 1:19)

Many people ask if there is a key to understanding the Book of Revelation? The answer is yes! God’s purpose is not to conceal, but to reveal. This golden key is hanging right on the front door in verse 19 of the first chapter of Revelation. It is John’s commission to write the Book of Revelation. In fact, John got his commission from the Trinity Book Publishing company. Jesus Christ, one of the three partners in the Trinity Book Publishing company, tells John,

Rev 1:19
19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
KJV

Now, contrary to what some will tell you, the Book of Revelation is primarily a prophetic book. It tells us about the things which shall be hereafter, it is not a history book. Revelation is a book of prophecy, and only God knows the future. God alone can prophecy what will occur in the future. Satan cannot prophecy at all.

Today, I want to give us a panoramic view of the prophecy we find in this book so we can use it as a guide to what we are seeing in these prophecies. I am not going to go into them deeply, because we will be doing that over the next several months, years, or however long it takes us to get through this wonderful book of prophecy. But I do want you to have a roadmap to work from in our study.

Click the link to hear a podcast on the major branches of prophecy that will occur in the future. Jesus Christ is coming to judge the world, and God wants you to know what is going to happen so you can be ready.

GOD'S GUARANTEED BLESSING (Rev. 1:3)

How many of you seek God’s blessing on your life? Well, of course, everyone would say yes to that. That may be the only time I get a 100% agreement from everyone listening to this lesson. Everyone wants to be blessed by God. In fact, I pray for the blessings of God in my life, and that of my family’s. When we think of blessings, the first thing that comes to my mind are the beatitudes. Jesus tells us that blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, merciful, pure in heart, and many more.

So, these blessings are from the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount where He described the principles and the rule of the Kingdom, meaning the Millennium Kingdom. These are the characteristics of those who will be blessed during Christ’s reign on earth, but they are also the characteristics of believers in today’s world whom the Lord will bless. Our Lord is saying this is how we should be living our lives, and when we do so, we shall be blessed. In fact, He tells us,

Matt 5:12
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
KJV

It is a Biblical truth, that many of our blessings for being an obedient and faithful child of God will come in heaven and not on this earth. This is not bad news, in fact, this is really great news, because we get to have those blessings for all of eternity, not just some minor period in our today. To me, that is a blessing I want to have.

Now, what if I told you of a promised blessing from God, that would occur while you lived on this earth? I am not talking about a fortune cookie type of blessing, I am talking about a true blessing from the almighty God of all things.

Rev 1:3
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
KJV

We are to read this book, we are to hear this book, and we are to keep this book. If we do those things, then we will be blessed. The Bible is the only book I know of that that you can study and be God-guaranteed to be blessed by. Join me as we study God’s word in this lesson. Click on the link and listen to the podcast as we learn of The certain blessing of Revelation.

WHY DO WE STUDY REVELATION? (Revelation 1:1-2)

 

We study it because we live in a dark world, full of persecution, sin, and evil, and the book of Revelation is about the light that is coming to this world. It is about Jesus Christ. No matter how bad things get in this life, we can be at peace, because we know Who is coming to set things right, and set them right He will.

The book of Revelation is a book of prophecy, and the first truth we must acknowledge is that only God can prophesy. Anybody else who says they can, be they a psychic, preacher, apostle, prophet, Imam, or teacher, write it down, plain and simple, only God can prophesy. If somebody else tells you they have a new prophecy that is not contained in the Word of God, be nice to them, but don’t you be led astray.

We study the book of Revelation because it is a book of certainty. That may seem like an odd statement about a book that so many people have said it is like a Chinese puzzle in that it is impossible or hard to understand. And it certainly is full of many things that are hard to understand, but God has provided this book to us in His Word because He wants us to understand it. God wants believers, and you must be a true child of God in order for this to be true, but God wants believers to understand His Words and be encouraged by them.

Even the most simple minded believer can walk away from reading the book of Revelation with four certainties. Four Biblical truths that you can know for certain and understand. The first and most important certainty in the book of Revelation is that Jesus Christ is coming again in power. Not as a Servant Savior, but as Lord of lords and King of kings. This certainty is our shining star on the other end of our tightrope of this life. This is the star that we focus on. Jesus Christ is coming again.

The second certainty is that we will be blessed because we are taking the time and effort to study this book.

Rev 1:3
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
KJV

God has promised His blessing on those who read, hear, and keep the things that are written in this book.

The third certainty is that every man who has ever lived, and will ever live, is going to be judged. There are different judgments for different groups of people, but we will all be judged by our Lord Jesus. Those who have believed on Jesus Christ will go to live with Him into eternity, and those who have rejected Him will be condemned to live without Him in the fires of Hell for eternity. Judgement is coming for each of us, the book of Revelation is God’s proof that this is true.

The fourth certain truth is that God has a plan, and that plan is on schedule, and God will complete that plan.

Isa 46:9-10
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
KJV

The prophet Isaiah tells us about this truth. God has said that My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. It is the book of Revelation which is the proof that this is a certain, sure, truth. God has a purpose for all of creation. He has declared it from the beginning. His counsel will stand, and He will do all that He has purposed and planned. It is important that we as Christians have the unshakable assurance that God has an ultimate plan for the universe. The book of Revelation tells me that the future is in God’s hands, and the best is yet to come. Of that we can be certain!

Those are certainties of this book. If by the end of this study, those are the only truths that you know and can lay hand on, then you have accomplished more than most.

Listen to this podcast and then, come to this page each week for a new lesson as we learn about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR HIS COMING? (2 Peter 3:10-12)

The world is going to pieces.  It is falling apart all around us. But Peter says, that what is happening today should not be what the believer is looking for and working toward. Our focus should be on completing our mission of sharing the gospel to a lost world, but our hearts should be looking for the Second Coming of our Lord and the new heavens and the new earth that He is going to create.

Jesus Christ is coming again, and those who have rejected Him will spend eternity in the fires of Hell. I can’t say it any plainer than that. If you reject Christ as your Savior, then you will spend eternity in Hell. Not only is Jesus coming again to judge the wicked, but He is going to destroy the current heavens and the earth by fire and create a new heaven and a new earth. This new heaven and new earth, and our home on it, is what we are to be looking for. Let me tell you, the world is indeed getting ready to come apart.

Someone once told Mark Twain that they were afraid the world was going to end, and he said, “Don’t worry about it, we can do without it.” We can, and we will, do without this corrupt world, but we will have a new heaven and a new earth to live on. In our lesson today, Peter is going to tell us that since we know that all of these things are true, there should be changes in the way we live today. There should be an urgency to our mission. There should be a desire to live a life that is pleasing to God. There should be a fire burning within each believer to do everything they can to hasten the coming of the Lord. Somewhere out there is the last soul that the Lord is waiting on to be saved. If we truly want the Lord to come, then we need to be working hard to accomplish the tasks that we have been given. We should be sharing the gospel message to the lost souls that Jesus Christ has said He is waiting on, so that none should perish.

We are the tools that God uses to bring those souls to Him. We pray for His guidance on where those souls are, and which ones we are to evangelize to, and then we labor to bring them in. In doing so, we hasten the day of His coming.

Listen to this podcast to learn what we should be doing to hasten the coming of our Lord. We will answer the questions, What role are you playing in the purposes of God? Are you really looking for that day, and working toward it? If not, Peter says, get ready, be looking, and be working for the coming of the day of our God.

JUDGMENT IS COMING (2 Peter 3:7-9)

Jesus Christ is coming again, and when He arrives the time of judgment will begin. The Great White Throne of Judgment will deal with all who have rejected Christ. Satan and all of his antichrists, false prophets, apostates, demons, fallen angels, and followers, will be cast into the lake of fire. A new heaven and a new earth will be created, and Christ will reign in power for all of eternity. This is the promise that the Bible has given us as believers. The whole purpose of the Gospel message of Christ is so that man can avoid this judgment and live with Christ in the new heavens and on the new earth for eternity. God’s plan of salvation for the corrupted human race has been planned by a loving God from the foundation of the world.

Rev 13:8
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
KJV

God knew that we would reject Him and His Son, but He loved us anyway.

1 John 4:19
19 We love him, because he first loved us
KJV

God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for the sins of the world.

John 3:16-21
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.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
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.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
KJV

Christ has done all of the work of salvation for us, all we have to do to have everlasting life with Christ is accept His free gift of redemption. Yet, there are those who still reject this gift. They deny these truths, and they claim that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God. He was a good man, a teacher, and a prophet, but He was not the Son of God. The apostate rejects Christ, and claims that he cannot find Christ. They shout, where is He?

The apostate cannot find Christ for the same reason that a thief cannot find a policeman. Because he doesn’t want to find Him.

The only hope of the salvation of any soul rests in the patience, longsuffering, and self-control of God. God is long–suffering; He is patient; He is not rushing things. After all, He has eternity behind Him and eternity ahead of Him. But this almighty, merciful, and patient, God has promised that the final judgment, the dissolution of the earth and the heavens, is coming. God cannot lie. The day of judgment is coming.

In the meantime, He is giving men everywhere a further opportunity to repent and accept His gift of grace. This is the reason you and I need to get the Word of God out. It is the only thing that can change hearts and lives. It is by the Word of God that man is born again:

1 Peter 1:23
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
KJV

It is not God’s will that you should perish. God does not want you to come into judgment; He wants you to pass from death unto life. And you can do that—you can turn to Him and receive the wonderful salvation that He has for you.

Did you know that you cannot keep God from loving you? You can reject His love, but you cannot keep Him from loving you. Neither can you keep it from raining, but you can raise an umbrella to keep the rain from falling on you. Also, you can raise the umbrella of indifference, or the umbrella of sin, or the umbrella of rebellion, so that you won’t experience God’s love, but you cannot keep Him from loving you.

My friend, you can slap God in the face; you can turn your back on Him; you can blaspheme Him, and you can shake your fist in defiance at Him, but you cannot keep Him from wanting to save you. You cannot keep Him from loving you, for He provided a Savior, His own Son, to die in your place. The Lord Jesus will save you if you will receive the free gift of salvation that He offers. My friend, things are not going to continue as they are now. It is coming to an end, and judgment will come. You and I are living in a world which is moving toward judgment.

We tend to think in terms of “balance scale” justice. God thinks in terms of mercy. He wants everyone to accept His gracious forgiveness so as not to pay the ultimate penalty for sin. Especially since it has already been paid for them! Listen to this podcast to learn of the promise of God that a day of judgment is coming for all who reject Christ.