The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

THERE IS NO PROBLEM GOD CANNOT SOLVE (Genesis 17:15-17)

These three verses contain four wonderful, wonderful, truths that you need to learn.  I want you to get these four things about a strong faith emblazoned in your heart, etched upon your consciousness.  I want them to reverberate through your soul, because I want for you what I want for myself, a strong faith.

The first is that Strong Faith Releases the Grace of God. Faith is the key.  It just opens the door and gets you in there where grace is, or it gets grace out here where you are. 

The second is that Strong Faith Relies on The Guarantees Of God.  Strong faith always relies on God’s guarantees. It does not rely on you, on what you wish, or what you want, but on what God has said. 

The third is that Strong Faith Recognizes the Greatness of God.  True faith is rooted in the promise, but not only in the promise, but in the One who promised. And so, if you are to have faith, not only must you have the Word of God, and a word from God, you must also understand the character of the God who gives this Word.

The fourth is that strong faith reveals the glory of God. The greatest way that you can glorify God is to believe Him.  

Click on the play button above to hear a message on the most important part of God’s grace that we can apply to our hearts and lives.  It is the foundational truth that we need to understand that our faith is based on. That truth is that There Is No Problem God Cannot Solve.  You will never have to say that something is too difficult for God to do in your life.  It is that truth that lets the peace of God rest in our hearts, for we have the omnipotent, the omniscient, and the omnipresent, God who can solve any issue, and any problem, that we might face as we serve the loving, living, God of all creation. 

God said to Abraham, “Abraham, I’m going to give you a son.” Abraham was 100 years old. Sarah was 90. It was humanly ridiculous, so much so, that Abraham laughed, and yet he turned, and he believed God.  How did he do it? Well, first of all, he said, “I know God that you want to do it by your sheer grace. And so by faith, I’m going to release that grace.”

Faith releases grace. It relies on God’s Word. It doesn’t look for anything else. It just simply takes the Word of God and gets a word from God. And, thirdly, the faith that relies on God, relies on God because it knows God’s character. It just simply is aware of who God is and what God can do. And, therefore, it just glorifies God. It just simply says, “God, I want to give you the praise. I’m going to give you the glory. I’m not going to stagger in unbelief.”

Now, if you’ll do that, then God will make you a person of strong faith. 

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

Amen.

TO BE STRONG IN FAITH (Genesis 17: 15-17)

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.

GOD’S TESTIMONY TO HAGAR AND ABRAHAM (Genesis 16:7 to 17:14)

The Bible tells us that Abraham and Sarai failed to be patient and wait on God’s perfect timing to accomplish His will in providing a son for Abraham.  The price of that failure was that Hagar was abused, and as a result, she rejected their witness and fled.  Hagar was first given to Abraham by Sarai, and then she was rejected and persecuted by Sarai after she became pregnant.  

Hagar’s rejection led her to flee from the very God that could give her everlasting life.  Hagar had no desire to be like Abraham and Sarai, if the way they treated her was an example of the God they believed in.  So, she turned her face back towards Egypt, back towards the world, back towards death and eternal darkness.  

I am glad that the Holy Spirit of God is able to convict the heart of the lost person in spite of the witness that most of us believers display on a daily basis, especially when we are away from the church, and even worse, within our own home.  Since Abraham and Sarai had so badly represented God to Hagar, God now steps in Himself and shows Himself to Hagar.  

Click on the link below to a message on how God loved Hagar just as much as He loved Abraham.  He sought her and found her, just as God had searched and found Abraham in the land of the Ur of the Chaldees.  From this point forward, the true and living God would no longer just be One about whom Abraham and Sarai spoke, He would be her God as well.  She confessed her faith with her mouth.  

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

Amen.

ABRAHAM’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (Genesis 15:6 to 16:6)

The story of Abraham gives us an opportunity for God to show us the power of His grace, and the power of His silence.  There are lessons for believers in both of these Biblical truths.  

It is by the power of God’s grace alone that our salvation comes.  Not by the works of man lest he should boast, but by the grace of our Heavenly Father that loves us.  It is the power of God’s grace that comes to us when we believe on the promises of God, when we believe what God has promised to accomplish in us through Jesus Christ.  It is when we believe that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, and then died and rose again, that the power of God’s grace imputes righteousness to us.  

It is by the power of God’s silence that we learn patience; that we learn the value of faith; and we learn to depend on God rather than on our own wits, our own strength, or the things that the world values and believes as natural.  It is the power of God’s silence that creates a test we rarely pass. We fail this test because we want things on our timing, rather than God’s.  One of the hardest lessons we learn as believers is to wait on God’s perfect timing for His will to be accomplished in our lives.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how God accounted Abraham as righteous.  Abraham believed God. He just accepted what God said, and he believed God. That is the way each of us get saved.  You must believe that God has done something for you, that Christ died for you and rose again. It is then that God will declare you righteous by simply accepting Christ.

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

Amen.

THE FLOOD-PART II (Genesis 7:2 to 9:17)

As part of the story of The Flood, the Scripture tells us about the patience and long-suffering of God.  It says that once Noah and all the animals were in the ark, God waited for a full week, and nothing happened.  No doubt the crowds outside the ark were having a great time making fun of the whole thing.  Their hearts were already hardened.  Even after years of having God’s prophets warning man of the coming doom, God showed man a final measure of grace by waiting a full week before the flood began.  

This means that for a full seven days they still had the opportunity to accept God’s offer of salvation, yet they abused His long-suffering, His patience, and His kindness for the last time.  That extra week of grace was offered to bring them to repentance, and instead they condemned Noah and His God.  Without a doubt, the people of the time of Noah had “treasurest up unto” themselves “wrath against the day of wrath” and were ready for the “revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

Click on the play button to hear a message on how God’s final judgment was delivered on a world that had turned away from the Almighty God of all creation.

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

Amen.

THE FLOOD (Genesis 6:17 to 8:5)

God could have destroyed all mankind by any method He chose, He could have used the sword of an angel, as He did when He destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians, and the camp of the Assyrians.  If God had chosen that as His method, then there would only have needed to be a mark set upon Noah and his family for their preservation. 

But God chose to do it by a flood of waters, which would drown the whole world.  God chooses the rod with which he will correct us, His children, just as he chooses the sword with which he will cut off his enemies.  Notice also that this was not an accident, or the result of global warming, God is in control, He chose the method of judgment.  

Then, notice the expression, “I, even I, do bring a flood.” God is saying, “I am infinite in power, and therefore, I can do it.  I am infinite in justice, and therefore, I will do it.”  These are powerful words that speak of the deity of God and the sovereign right He has to condemn and judge all of creation.  God created man, therefore, He has the sovereign right to destroy man.

Yet “the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou.”  God was already in the ark.  Salvation was simply the shutting in of all the saved with Him.  What it meant for Noah to be “in the ark” with God is what it means today for the believer to be “in Christ.”  It means that between the saved and the storm were the judgment proof timbers of the ark.  It also means that between the believer and God’s wrath is Christ.  Christ bears the storm for all those who now find their safety in Him.

Noah and his family had to take one step of faith.  They had to make a total commitment of themselves to the salvation that had been procured for them at the cost of God’s only Son’s life.  Apart from that act, salvation would have been offered in vain.  

This invitation is extended by God to man.  It is extended to everybody, not just a select few.  It urges man to avail himself of the perfect provision God has made for his preservation.  The story of the flood tells us that this invitation of God is also given in a time of overwhelming judgment and doom.

Click on the play button to hear a message on the Flood, and where God said Come! And Noah responded by saying “Just as I am, I come.”  

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

Amen.

NOAH’S ARK (Genesis 6_12 to 7:1)

Today, we are going to be talking about Noah’s ark, which is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel message of salvation. Now, don’t think for any moment that the story of Noah’s ark is a fable or a legend.  No, it is a true story. If you are a student of history, you will find out that all of the great civilizations have a flood story. Of course, the one in the Bible, given by divine inspiration, is the true story and the accurate record. But the fact that all civilizations have a flood story tells us that this roots back to fact. But, the truth is that we don’t need what any other civilization has to say, if we have the Bible.

The ark, just as our baptism, is a type of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This ark, here in the Old Testament, pictures and portrays the Lord Jesus Christ, because it is a reminder that all of the Bible is about Jesus, all of it, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus is the hero of the Bible.

Click on the play button above to hear a message on how Noah’s ark tells the gospel message of salvation.  It tells us that we are saved by grace, through faith, unto good works.

By grace. It wasn’t in the goodness of Noah, but in the grace of God. Salvation is not in the merit of man, but the mercy of God.  Salvation is not a reward for the righteous; it is a gift for the guilty.

Through faith. It is not faith that saves us; it is grace that saves us.  It is faith that brings us in contact with that grace. By grace, through faith. Noah was saved because he committed himself to that ark.

Unto good works. We work not for salvation, but from salvation. It is by, through, and unto—unto good works. And indeed, Noah served the Lord. He did all of these things, but not in order to be saved, but because he was saved.

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

Amen.

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 TIMES OF ENOCH (Genesis 5:24)

THE TIMES OF ENOCH (Genesis 5:24)

Enoch got out of this world.  The Bible tells us that God just translated Enoch “that he should not see death.” That is, God took him physically, bodily, to heaven without dying.

There is the story of a man who was complaining about the situation in the world to Mark Twain, and he said, “I’m just afraid the world is coming to an end.” And Mark Twain said, “Well, don’t worry about it. You’ll never get out of it alive anyway.”  But he was wrong. Enoch got out of it alive, and Elijah got out of it alive too. 

Now, the Bible teaches that some of us are also going to get out of it alive, and I have a feeling that some of us who are living in this day, and this age, are going to heaven without ever dying. The Bible calls this the Rapture of the Church.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how the conditions of the world during Enoch’s time where so bad that God sent the flood to destroy the earth.  Yet, when we compare those conditions to the conditions of our day and age, we see a great deal of similarity.  Enoch preached the Second Coming of the Lord.  

Some people say, “Well, you know, you Christians, you’re always talking about the Second Coming of Jesus. You’re always saying Jesus is going to come. Well, why hasn’t He come?” The answer is found in, 

2 Peter 3:9-10
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.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
KJV

The Second Coming of Jesus will come.

Matt 24:37
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
KJV

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

Amen.

THE BLOOD ATONEMENT-PART II (Genesis 4:1-8)

In the story of Cain and Abel that we find in the book of Genesis, Abel was a prophet, and Able taught that when you believe on Jesus, you’ll have remission of sin. Now, in order to have faith, Able had to have the Word of God. The Bible says that he was a prophet. He understood the blood atonement. I want to tell you, he may not have understood it as you and I understand it, standing on this side of Calvary, but he was a man of God. He was one of the Old Testament prophets that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, there is a principle that starts in the book of Genesis and goes all the way through to the book of Revelation, and that is blood atonement. You cut this book anywhere; it will bleed. There is a red river of redemption. It welled up there in the Garden of Eden and flowed past the gates of Eden when God made for Adam and Eve coats of skin.

Adam and Eve had three kinds of garments. First of all, they had a robe of glory; they were covered with light. And then they lost that robe of glory, and they had a robe of guilt. They knew that they were naked, and they were covered with shame. And then they had a robe of grace, as God killed an innocent animal, and with that innocent animal, He made for them coats of skin. What was God teaching right there in the dawn of civilization? That “Without [the] shedding of blood is no remission [of sin].” 

Then we see Abel as he comes continuing in the same idea, and he brings this pure, spotless lamb and the fat thereof, and God had respect unto the prophet Abel’s offering. 

Click on the play button to hear a message on how there are really only two divisions of all religion, and that is the salvation of works and the salvation by grace. 

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

Amen.