Episodes
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
A FAMILY OF LIES AND LIARS (Genesis 27:1-46)
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Today’s message is about the family of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob. From the birth of these two children, neither the parents, nor the children were obedient to God’s will. Each member of this family knew of God’s proclamation that Jacob was to be the one that the covenant blessing was to be passed to, and each person set about either attempting to by-pass this proclamation, or to obtain it through lies and deceit. Each member of this family was controlled by the carnal nature that existed within them and which demanded that they solve their problems under their own strength and limited wisdom. As a result, each of these people suffered the consequences of their decision to be disobedient to God.
Chapter 27 is a sad chapter, because everyone in it is doing the wrong thing, especially Isaac. As the head of the family, Isaac was a spiritually weak man, controlled by his carnal desires. He was a liar, and he was disobedient to God. His family followed his lead, they were a Family of Lies and Liars. This chapter has as its theme, Jacob and Rebekah conniving to get the blessing of Isaac for Jacob, which Isaac had every intention of giving to Esau, in spite of God’s revealed will.
Jacob wanted the blessing of his father. He knew that God had promised his mother that the elder would serve the younger, so the blessing was already his. All he had to do was wait on God. However, he did not trust God to handle this. Rebekah, certainly did not trust God. And evidently Isaac didn’t trust God either, or he would never have attempted to bypass Jacob and give the blessing to Esau. He followed his own feelings and appetite in contradiction to the distinct Word of God.
Now, something I want to make very clear, the method Jacob used in obtaining the birthright cannot be supported on any grounds whatsoever. He used fraud and deceit. His conduct was absolutely despicable. God did not condone this any more than He condoned the conduct of Sarah and Abraham in the matter of Hagar and Ishmael. Do not say that God gave this blessing to Jacob because of what he did, for God could not, and would not, use the trickery and cleverness of Jacob. Jacob received this blessing is spite of his actions, because God had covenanted to do so.
As we shall see over the next few weeks, God deals with Jacob in a very definite way for his actions. Jacob had to pay for his sin in the same manner in which he sinned. Jacob was deceived and lied to by an even greater liar than he was. He met Laban, who was the dean of the college of liars.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what happens when a follower of Christ fails to trust God to do what He says He will do.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
THE MEANING OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Today we are celebrating Easter Sunday. This is a holiday that most of the western world has celebrated for centuries. However, for most people the day is simply another holiday, it has no real meaning other than the Easter bunny, egg hunts, and candy for the kids.
To some, it is a time to go to church for a religious ceremony of some type. Many of us have memories of attending Easter services in crowded churches, with everyone dressed in new Easter, Sunday-go-to-meeting, clothes. The women were dressed in hats and gloves, and the men in suits and ties. The church was crowded with people attending for the one and only time all year that they came to church. Yet, if you were to ask most of them why they came, why the day was important, many of them could not tell you.
Why is Easter Sunday an important holiday to celebrate? It is because on Easter, we are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. If you are a believer, if Jesus Christ is your Lord and Master, then Easter should be every bit as important to you as the celebration of the birth of our Savior on Christmas.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that we have A master to confess. It provides us with a living Jesus Christ sitting on the right hand of God the Father. He is sitting because He has accomplished all that God has asked Him to do.
It also means that we have A message to convey. The resurrection of Jesus Christ provides us with a message to tell others About Eternal life. About Power over sin in our lives. About The hand of the One who will bring us into the presence of God when we enter Heaven’s Gate. Where we can stand clothed in the robe of righteousness purchased with His Holy blood. Christ wields absolute authority and power in Heaven and on Earth. Angels and Cherubim of heaven, and Principalities and rulers of this world’s darkness, wicked spirits, demons, and Satan himself are held in check by the power and authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. No kingdom, empire, or nation exists outside of the Lord’s permissive will. The message of the resurrection is that Jesus is on the throne, wielding all power and authority on earth as in heaven. This is the message we are to convey.
It also means that we have A mandate to complete. Jesus has commanded us to go out into the world and preach the gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection, baptizing them in the name of the Lord.
Praise God that Jesus was willing to be obedient to God’s will, and Praise God that from the foundations of time, the triune God has had our salvation in mind. God sent His Son that we might have everlasting life, and the power of God raised Him from the grave so that we might walk as a new creation in the newness of life.
Click on the link below to hear a message on why this Easter holiday is so important to us as believers. Jesus Christ is alive, and we are going to be with Him for all of eternity.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Monday Jan 08, 2024
TO BE STRONG IN FAITH (Genesis 17: 15-17)
Monday Jan 08, 2024
Monday Jan 08, 2024
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.
Monday Jan 30, 2023
HOW TO BE USED OF GOD (Hebrews 11:32-34)
Monday Jan 30, 2023
Monday Jan 30, 2023
Would you like God to use you? I mean, would you really, or are you afraid of what God might ask you to do? Are you willing to say to God, Lord I want you to use me wherever, whenever, and however, you want to use me? Let’s go a little deeper, when you die, will people remember you as a servant of God, someone who impacted others for God? In other words, will it make any difference that you lived? Will your story be that He was born. He lived. He died. You draw your breath, you draw your salary, you exist to live, you live to exist, and that is all? I wonder if there are a lot of us who will not really leave any vacancy when we go. Will it make any difference that you lived? What is your life really, ultimately, counting for? Is it counting for God? If that is what you want, then who are the kinds of people that God uses? Does God use mighty people to do mighty things for Him, or does God use common people to do His work?
Click on the link above to hear a message on the characteristics of the people that God uses to do mighty things to accomplish His will on this earth.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 16, 2022
A DYNAMIC LIFE OF FAITH-PART II (Hebrews 11:8-13)
Sunday Oct 16, 2022
Sunday Oct 16, 2022
Without faith it is impossible to please God. You will never succeed in your Christian life without believing God. Faith is the mark of a Christian. Christians were called believers before they were called Christians. It is our chief duty to believe God, and in order to believe God, then you must hear from God.
How can we hear the voice of God? The Bible tells us that God speaks to us by His Son. So, how does God do that? The Bible teaches that we have three things. We have the written Word of God. We have the mind of Christ, and we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Now, the wonderful good news about having these three things to hear from God, is that it gives us such an advantage over what the Old Testament prophets had to hear from God. You see, these Old Testament characters, before they had the Bible, before they knew what we know by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they had to wait for God to break in with some open revelation, some vision, some ecstasy. We don’t have to do that.
Listen, don’t just miss this Biblical truth by nonchalance. We have the inspired, inerrant written Word of God, and we have the mind of Christ, and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God, all speaking to us and sharing the will of God in our lives. You have such an advantage today in being able to know the will of God. You don’t have to guess at the will of God, you can know the will of God. You can have the confidence to say to God as you pray, “Lord, this is Your will, and I thank You for it, and I stand on it.”
How can you have this confidence? You can have it because you have the written word of God, the Holy Spirit of God, and the mind of Christ.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how to have a dynamic life of faith that pleases God.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
A DYNAMIC LIFE OF FAITH-PART I (Hebrews 11:8-13)
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul.” How would you like to have great faith? If you are a Christ follower, then I trust that you do. When you came to Jesus Christ, God enrolled you in the School of Faith. Life is the classroom, the Bible is the textbook, the prophets and the apostles are the professors, and Abraham would have to be the Dean in the School of Faith.
Our message today is on the dynamic life of faith that Abraham led. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” This means that if you want to please God, then you must have faith. If you please God, then it doesn’t matter whom you displease, and if you displease God, then it doesn’t matter whom you please. There is no way to please God without faith.
Do you want to serve God? Then, your chief duty is to believe Him. The supreme evil is unbelief. Unbelief is the source of all other sins. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden because they did not believe the Word of God that had been given to them. The Christian life, according to Hebrews 10:38, is to be lived by faith. The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.”
Now, I am telling you as clearly as I can that without faith it is impossible to please God. You will never, ever, succeed in your Christian life without believing God. Not just in God, but God’s Word collectively in the Bible, and God’s Word that He has given personally to you.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how to have a dynamic life of faith that pleases God.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 28, 2021
LET GOD SIT IN THE DRIVER‘S SEAT (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Sunday Mar 28, 2021
Sunday Mar 28, 2021
There is a popular bumper sticker out there that says “God is my Copilot.” Well, if that is true in your life, then you better swap seats. God needs to in the driver’s seat of your life. We all like to be in control of our lives, but if you are to know God’s will, then you must let God be the one who chooses your way, not you. You see, finding God’s will is not something that you are to figure out in your flesh. It is not a puzzle that we need to figure out. God is not leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow. No, instead, we are called to trust in the Lord.
Someone once said, “To know the Lord Jesus is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to obey Him. To obey Him is to find God’s will for your life. And to find God’s will for your life is to be blessed.” The Word of God says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” No ifs, ands, and buts about it. If you let Almighty God choose the way, control the way, confirm the way, and clear the way, then you will know the will of God for your life.
Now, let me just give you some very practical advice and I want you to think about it. The way to know the will of God for your life is to do the will of God immediately and in all things. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Don’t wait till tomorrow morning. I mean, starting now! Number two: Obey Him in the small things; then the big ones will take care of themselves. Everything big is made of little things. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” (Luke 16:10)
It’s hard to steer a ship that’s not moving, that means that God can’t steer a life that is not moving towards Him. I want to repeat again, the way to know the will of God for your life is to do the will of God immediately and to do it in all things. Obey Him in the small things; then the big ones will take care of themselves.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
TO KNOW THE WILL OF GOD (Proverbs 3:1-6)
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
Each of us, as a believer, is seeking the will of God for our lives. We ask, are we doing what God has planned for us? Are we touching the people around us with the gospel message of the cross?
As husbands, are we prayerfully leading our families in the path that God has chosen for us? Are we the spiritual leaders of our families? Does our family even know that we think about the will of God for the family? Do they ever see us praying? Do you pray together as a family seeking God’s will?
As wives, are you the prayer warrior that God wants each of us to be, but so often it is the wife and mother of the family that fills this role? Does your family know that God is the one making the choices in your life? Can they see God in the way you conduct yourself on a daily basis?
As married couples are you walking in the same direction, yoked together, pulling in the same direction, with your eyes on God? Are you both surrendered to God? Not just committed, but completely surrendered to the one, true, living, almighty God of all creation.
How to decide when and where to move in the work of Lord? That is always a crucial question facing those that would do the Lord’s work. Certainly, for most believers, the most difficult part is separating the desires of our own heart from the desires of the Lord. Sometimes they coincide, sometimes they do not.
Seeking the Lord’s will is something each Christian should be doing on a daily basis.
Finding the Lord’s will is the result of quiet, careful, meditation on the Word of God with a surrendered heart.
So how do you know which way is right? You start by asking yourself whether your heart is in a condition that can even hear the will of God? In other words, are you speaking from a surrendered heart that is fully obedient to God? If your heart is not surrendered to God, if you are not obedient to God’s Word, then you cannot know the will of God.
Then, have you prayed and asked God to reveal the sin that is in your heart, and then confessed and repented of it? If there is unconfessed and unrepented sin in your life, that sin will keep you from hearing God’s will.
Isaiah 59:2
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
KJV
In my experience, this is the single biggest block between the prayer of the believer and the answer from God. Many people want to live in sin, knowingly, and then expect God to ignore it and act like it doesn’t exist. That will not happen. God knows every sin, in every dark corner that you have placed it. If you want to know the will of God, then you must first confess and repent of your sins.
Next, ask yourself, have you prayed about the question and then listened for God’s response, or have you simply told God the answer you want to hear?
Then ask, is what you want meeting the purpose of Christ for this church being here, or for you still being on this earth? Will it bring lost people to know Him? If it doesn’t, then you need to rethink, and change your desires.
Are you willing to accept God’s answer, whatever it may be? You cannot know the will of God by intuition, or based on past experience, you must be willing to pray and accept God’s will, or it will never be revealed to you. Why should God reveal His will if He knows you will not accept and be obedient to it?
Now, we have been talking about how to have God’s wisdom in our lives. We need God’s wisdom in order to discern God’s will in our lives. Our study over the next couple of weeks will be on how to determine the will of God in our lives, and the very first thing we must do is to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. You cannot know the will of God unless you have made the Holy Spirit the president of your life, not just a resident in your heart, but the president of your life. Then, once you are saved, once you have completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit, the very next thing you must do is to be obedient to the Word of God. You must obey God’s commandments. In order to do that, then you must have God’s Word hidden in your heart.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how to determine the will of God for you life.
Amen.
Sunday Jan 24, 2021
ARE YOU PREPARED? (Proverbs 1:10-19)
Sunday Jan 24, 2021
Sunday Jan 24, 2021
Are you prepared? Well, prepared for what? In these days of unrest there is a whole group of people who are called “preppers.” They have go-bags that are at the ready to grab in the event of an emergency, be it a hurricane, a riot, or some other cataclysmic event. Those bags contain food, camping equipment, and tools for survival without all of the support that we have in our society, like electricity, grocery stores, hospitals, gas stations, and even the internet. They are prepared to face a crisis event.
So, how you respond to the question of Are You Prepared depends on what you need to be prepared for? Is it a crisis event, or is it just to go to work today, or to school to take that exam?
Our message today is going to ask the Christian believer Are You Prepared to go out into the secular world? This message is for every believer, young or old, rich or poor, educated or not. For you to live a victorious Christian life you have to be prepared to face a world full of temptation and sin. This is especially true of our children as they get to the age where they will enter the world. But even though this message seems to be directed at our children, the principles that Solomon describes are just as applicable to adults.
One of the primary responsibilities of a Christian parent is to prepare their children to go out into the world and live a life that honors and glorifies God. Now, every parent wants their child to go out and succeed, but a secular parent and a Christian parent should have different definitions for the word succeed. The world looks at success in terms of wealth, power, happiness, and a family.
A Christian looks at success as finding fulfillment in always being obedient to the will of God for their lives. Now, wealth, power, happiness, and a family, may, or may not, come for the Christian, but if they do, they are simply due to the grace of God, not because of anything that we have done. Our trust is in the love that God has for us, and the certain knowledge that He will provide everything we need, and much more than we deserve.
If your trust is in something other than God to provide for your needs, like your own hard work, then you are not prepared to do God’s will for your life. This is true because it impacts your priorities. If your priority is to provide for your needs, then those needs will always come before your work for God.
Other than making sure your children know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, teaching them this concept of duty and service to God is the single most important principle that we can give them. It is to be more important than teaching them how to read, to write, to dress themselves, and to be polite. All those things are important, but without God, and without a desire to serve God, they will be easy prey for the world.
Click on the link below to hear a message that asks the question Are You Prepared to go out into the secular world?
Amen.
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
MAKING EXCUSES TO GOD (2 Samuel 19:32-39)
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
Have you ever made an excuse to God to explain why you didn’t want to do something that He asked you to do? God says “Keith, I want you to go witness to that big guy over there that is decked out in motorcycle gang leather and chains.” I look at the man, at the long beard, the ear rings in his ears, and then I look back up at God, and say “Well God, he looks pretty busy right now, and I am pretty tired, I sure don’t want to have a long conversation right now. You know God, the more I think about it, I am not sure I am the right person for the job.”
Did you ever try to talk God out of making you do something like that? It never works out, does it? In fact, after you have been a Christian for a while, you learn to just say “Yes Lord, thank you Lord, I love you, Lord,” and then you go do whatever He wants you to do. Things work out a whole lot better when we don’t make excuses and just be obedient to God.
When I think of Biblical characters that gave excuses to God, the person that comes to my mind is Moses when God told him to go back to Egypt and stand before the Hebrews and Pharaoh. Moses said things like, “Listen God, I’m not good enough. I don’t have all the answers. People won’t believe me. I am a terrible public speaker, and, I am not qualified to do that.” Making excuses didn’t work for Moses either and in Exodus 4:14 we see how God reacted when it says that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” God got tired of the excuses and sent Moses on down the road.
Then, I think of a shoe salesman named Dwight L Moody that God called, or Billy Sunday, a professional baseball player. God called both to be great evangelists, yet both had to wonder “Why me? I am not qualified to do that. I don’t know enough to do that.” Yet, they both responded, and God used their faithfulness to reach millions.
Well, today’s lesson is about one of those men in David’s life that put on a good show to start with, but then just made excuses when David asked him to do more. The man’s name is Barzillai.
Barzillai uses a whole list of excuses to not go with David, and he eventually looks at David and says, "I'm not going, David, and that's the end of it. There's Chimham here; he wants to go, take him." And David did. He said, "All right, Barzillai, please yourself, have it your own way. I wanted you to help me run an empire. I'll never ask you again. Good-bye. Come on, Chimham, come and take this old man's crown."
And that is where the Holy Spirit leaves him—where David left him, heading back for the rut that would soon become his grave. Make no mistake, there is a limit to how many times the Holy Spirit will listen to your excuses before He says, “Ok, please yourself. I wanted you to help me to bring the gospel message of Christ to a lost world, but you said no. I will never ask you again.”
Ask yourself, how many excuses have you given to God at this stage of your life, whatever that is, young or old? I just can’t imagine that anything could be worse for a child of God than for the Lord Jesus, at last, to simply leave a person to himself. Then for that believer to face, one day, the judgment seat of Christ and see someone else take their crown.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what it means when we tell God, “I will go a little way for you Lord, but I am not going all the way.”
Amen.