The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

THE FAITH OF NOAH (Genesis 5:25 to 6:10)

In our message today, we begin a section of verses that describes The Flood and the reasons that God brought destruction to His creation.  From the time that God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden, God had blessed man, and man had been fruitful and multiplied.  In a relatively short period of time man had populated the whole earth.  Yet, instead of recognizing the God that created him, man had turned away from God, and reveled in his own abilities and knowledge.  And as happens every time man turns away from God, man had degenerated into total depravity.

What was the condition on the earth before the Flood? What caused God to bring the judgment of the Flood?  

Genesis 6:5
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
KJV

But as we see throughout the Bible, there was a remnant, someone left who still believed in God.  Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”  The Bible tells us that grace is the unmerited favor of God; it is getting something we do not deserve.  Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  But it goes beyond that, why did Noah find grace in the eyes of the Lord?  It is because “Noah walked with God.”  It wasn’t because he deserved it; it wasn’t because his good works outweighed his bad; it was because Noah walked with God.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the faith of Noah, and man who preached righteousness for a period of 120 years without a convert, other than his family, and witnessed to the grace of God.  

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

Amen.

THE MEANING OF LIGHT AND DAY (Genesis 1:1-5)

THE MEANING OF LIGHT AND DAY (Genesis 1:1-5)

Today’s message is on the meaning of the words “light” and “day” as they are used in the Bible’s account of creation.  Two very simple words, that we use all of the time, but so many people have a hard time understanding when it comes to what God says about the creation of all things.  

In the book of Genesis, God said “let there be light.”  The word “light” stands for and performs so many different functions and things in the Scriptures.  The concept of light is described throughout the Bible, and it is first used here in Genesis.  Light truly is a unique creation.  The Holy Spirit chose light as a metaphor for God throughout the Scripture.  Like God, light is mysterious but glorious.

Light by its nature, just like our Lord, is constant.  The speed and the nature of light never change.  The speed of the light that leaves our sun millions of miles away is traveling at the exact same speed as when it reaches us as we stand outside and let it fall on us to warm and comfort us.  The light of our Lord is the same.  It is the same today as it was on creation day, and as it will be when He comes for us to take us home.  Satan and his kingdom must bow before God and the majesty of His light.  When God’s light comes, Satan’s darkness must go.  

It also means that there is only one way to get rid of Satan’s darkness, and that is the light of the Word of God.  We have victory in Jesus because no force on the earth, or below the earth, can stand against the mighty majesty of His light.  When our lives are filled with sin, it is the light of the Word of God that will give you victory over that sin in your life.  In fact, it is the only light that will give you victory over Satan and sin.  You cannot live the Christian life without the power and light of the Holy Spirit in your heart.

Click on the play button at the top of the post to hear a message on the meaning of the words “light” and “day” as they are used in the creation story found in the first few verses of the Bible.

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

Amen.

IN THE BEGINNING, GOD (Genesis 1:1-3)

As you study the Bible, it always amazes me how one part folds into and helps the understanding of another part.  For example, you must have an understanding of the Book of Daniel before you can understand the Book of Revelation.  In my opinion, there are two books which are key to the understanding of all of the Scriptures, the book that opens the Old Testament (Genesis), and the book that opens the New Testament (Matthew).

God had some definite purpose in giving the book of Genesis to us.  The first section of the book has to do with the universe and with creation, but the last part deals with man, with nations, and with the person of Jesus Christ. God was more interested in Abraham than He was in the entire created universe, and God is more interested in you and attaches more value to you than He does to the entire physical universe.

With Genesis begins the progressive self-revelation of God which culminates in Christ.  The three primary names of Deity-Elohim, Jehovah, and Adonai appear in Genesis and these in an ordered progression which could not be changed without confusion.  It also presents the problem of sin and how it affects man’s condition on the earth and his relationship to God.  It also presents the divine solution of that problem.  

Click on the link below to hear a message that describes what the book of Genesis is all about. Genesis is the “seed plot” of the Bible, and here we find the beginning, the source, the birth of everything. The Book of Genesis is just like the bud of a beautiful rose, and it opens out into the rest of the Bible. The truth here is in germ form.

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

Amen.

A LIFE WITHOUT FEAR (Hebrews 13:5-6)

A LIFE WITHOUT FEAR (Hebrews 13:5-6)

When the old mapmakers were drawing ancient maps, they did not know what we know today. They didn’t have global positioning satellites. They could not see the world from outer space, and they would make maps of what they knew. But there was much that they did not know, and when they would come to the edge of their knowledge, they would often write something like this: “Beyond this, there may be dragons.” And, if you will look at some of the old maps, you will see the sea monster in the ocean right alongside those words.  This is because man has an innate fear of the future, and of the unknown.  The fear of the future is a foe that we all face.  Whether we are young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, we wonder about what is going to happen. Fear has no racial bias. It’s endemic to all people.  

There is a fear of where our country is heading.  There is a fear of the persecution of Christians that is occurring as our country, and world, move further and further away from the Biblical values of God, and God Himself.  There is fear of the violence that is occurring all around us.  There is a fear of financial loss and the inability to pay the bills that are sitting on your table at home.  There is a fear of disease and failing health in a world filled with cancer and pandemics.  These are just a few of the things that we face in an uncertain future, and yet, God wants us to have a future without fear. As a matter of fact, God has not only admonished us, but God has commanded us, not to fear.

Click on the play button to hear a message that will teach you how to live a life free of fear.  

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

Amen.

LESSONS FROM A BOX OF BONES (Hebrews 11:22)

Man is the only creature who knows he’s going to die, and he’s trying desperately to forget it. If you don’t believe that, look at the woman who wears too much makeup trying to hide those wrinkles and age spots, or the man who has already passed middle age, making a fool of himself in a sports car, and trying to dress like a teenager with a gold chain around his neck. We just don’t like to think about death. If you mention death, people will look at you like you have smallpox. In society today, we don’t talk much about death.  You go to a funeral, and in the funeral, we do all we can do to camouflage the fact of death. Our cemeteries look like memorial parks. We just change the subject of death like we switch channels in a television set.  So, why is that? Well, there is a fear of death, and the Bible teaches that the devil keeps people in bondage through the fear of death.  

I want you to understand this, anybody who’s afraid of death, is in bondage. Are you afraid of death? Then Satan has done a job on you, and you have failed to understand what Jesus Christ has done for you.  I want to say clearly and plainly, no one is ready to live until he’s no longer afraid to die. Jesus has come to deliver us from the fear, and, correspondingly, the bondage, of death.  Jesus Christ is the risen, living, victorious as Savior, and because He lives, we live with Him. We no longer fear death. We no longer fear death because we have a Savior, a dear, loving Savior.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to live confidently; how to die expectantly, and how to no longer fear death. 

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

Amen.

GOD PROVIDED A SUBSTITUTE (Hebrews 11:17-19)

I want you to take God’s Word and hold your Bible in your hand.  Now, I want to tell you there is no book like the Bible. None whatsoever. The book that you hold in your hand is one book, and yet it is sixty-six books. There are thirty-nine books in the Old Testament. There are twenty-seven in the New Testament. They were written over a period of about 1,500 years by at least forty different authors in three different languages, people from all backgrounds and walks of life. But when you bring them together, they don’t make sixty-six books; they make one book, one book that is bound together. 

This book has one hero, His name is Jesus. It has one villain, he is the devil. It has one theme, it is salvation. It has one purpose, the glory of God. And so, if you read any verse in the Bible, standing somewhere in the shadows, you’re going to find the Lord Jesus, and that’s what we’re going to see today as we continue to look in the life of the man named Abraham.  We are going to look back in history, centuries before Jesus Christ was born upon this earth, and we’re going to find a wonderful depiction of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, God gave illustrations, types, prophecies, figures of that which is to come in the New Testament.  It is one of the great confirmations of the inspiration of the Scripture, when you see way back here centuries before Jesus Christ was even born that God gives figures and types and prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, not only is it a confirmation of the inspiration of the Scriptures, but, correspondingly, it is a confirmation of the deity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as we see Him pictured there, tucked away in the Old Testament.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on if God was willing to give Jesus up freely for us all, how shall He not also freely give us all things? He is the God who provides.

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

Amen.

A DYNAMIC LIFE OF FAITH-PART II (Hebrews 11:8-13)

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.

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.

THE POWER OF THE BLOOD (Hebrews 9:22)

There is within the Bible a scarlet cord that runs through the entire Bible, that highway of blood that we find from Genesis to Revelation. It is important for us to understand that Calvary was not an accident, and it was not an incident. It is not something that happened as an afterthought.  In Rev. 13:8 God tells us “the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world,” which means that before God flung this world into space, before God scooped out the seas, and heaped up the mountains, and flung out the sun, moon, and stars, before all of that, before anything was that is, God had Calvary in His heart and mind. And Christ was slain in the heart and mind of God from the foundation of the world.

As you look through the entire Bible you will see the shedding of Christ’s blood as the sacrifice for our sins in picture, illustration, and typology.  God tells the same story with Adam and Eve, Noah, and then with Abraham, and with all of the sacrifices over thousands of years required under the Mosaic Law.  Yet, God tells us that none of these sacrifices were enough to make the people who offered them redeemed.  There had to be something more, for it was man who brought sin into the world, and so it would have to be a man who sacrificed His own life and shed His own blood.  Yet, it could not be just any man, it had to be the blood of the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  

If you’re an unsaved person, then you need to listen very carefully to this message because God put dark Calvary with its blood-drenched slopes, and with its uplifted cross, there as a roadblock to keep you out of hell.  And if you’re a saved person, then you need to listen because when you understand what Jesus Christ did to redeem you, to buy you, Oh, how you ought to love Him all the more.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the power of the saving blood of Jesus Christ.

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

Amen.

NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD (Hebrews 9:22)

Today our message is going to be on the wonderful, God blessed, subject of “Nothing but the Blood.”  Someone has said that you can cut the Bible in any place, and it will bleed because the Bible tells the story of what Jesus Christ did for you and me.  This is one of my favorite topics to teach on, because this precious blood of Christ is the reason that I have eternal life with my Lord and Savior in Heaven.  I honestly cannot think of a more important message to teach than this, Nothing but the Blood.

Actually, there are three cords that run through the Bible. One is a somber cord, a dark cord of sin and shame and degradation. The Bible teaches us about the sinfulness of man. The other is a bright, scarlet-red cord of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is a book about blood. And then there’s a golden cord that speaks of the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ which tells how He is going to rule and reign forever. The dark cord of sin, the red cord of redemption, and the gold cord of His Second Coming in glory. What a joy it is to read the Bible and find all of those things.  

Actually, the four ingredients of a great church are these: the book, the blood, the birth, and the blessed hope. That is what makes a great church. Those are the things that we just have to keep on preaching over and over again: the book, God’s holy Word; the blood, the sacrificial blood atonement of the Lord Jesus; the birth, the necessity of a new birth, to be a twice-born person; and the blessed hope that Jesus is actually, literally, visibly, bodily, coming back to this earth one of these days.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the prophecy and the provision of the saving blood of Jesus Christ.

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

Amen.