The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

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.

A TALE OF TWO TREES (Genesis 2:15-17)

A TALE OF TWO TREES (Genesis 2:15-17)

In today’s lesson we are going to be talking about a couple of very important trees that God has given to mankind.  

For the first tree, God had created man, and He placed man there in the beautiful Garden of Eden and gave him absolutely everything he needed for indescribable happiness and for joy and fulfillment. But in order that man might have a will—and a free will—God gave him the moral opportunity of a choice. And so, God created a tree and planted that tree in the Garden of Eden. It was called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and man was absolutely forbidden to eat the fruit of that tree.  That was the first tree.

For the second tree, we have Calvary’s tree, which is a tree of life.  Now, don’t be confused, this is not the tree of life that was also placed in the Garden of Eden, but it is “The” tree of life.  The tree of eternal life.  The tree that Christ died for our sins on. when you see the cross, and when you see what it did to Jesus, and when you see the wrath of God being poured out, there you have a knowledge of evil. That tree, Calvary’s tree, was a tree of the knowledge of evil, but it was also a tree of the knowledge of good. When you see the cross, when you see Calvary’s cross, there and there alone do you behold the goodness of God, the glory of God, the grace of God, the righteousness of God, the majesty of God—the glory of God—as you’ve never beheld it before, by beholding the cross. 

Click on the play button above to hear a message on the two trees that God has given man.  Trees that give the knowledge of good and evil.  With the first tree we see the sinfulness of man, and with the second tree we receive the wonderful grace of God.

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.

ROOTING OUT BITTERNESS (Hebrews 12:14-15)

Today’s message is about a problem that many Christians have, and it is called bitterness.  It is bitterness that blows out the candle of joy and leaves the soul in darkness, and I am afraid more people have a root of bitterness than we dare think.  Bitterness has done untold damage to communities. It has done untold damage to churches, and untold damage to homes.

I am convinced that bitterness does more to hold back the power of God and revival than liberalism. Bitterness does more to hold back the power of God and revival than does alcohol or pornography.  Bitterness keeps the people of God from having the power of God, and the holiness of God, that they need in their hearts and in their lives. Unfortunately, much of this bitterness, is found in the people of God. We have bitter brothers, sour sisters, caustic Christians, and the Bible speaks of a “root of bitterness.”

Click on the play button above to hear a message that will help you identify bitterness in your life, and how to deal with it.  How to root bitterness out of your life.  

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

Amen.

THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF FAITH (Hebrews 11:31)

Today’s message is about a champion of faith named Rahab, and the story of Rahab will teach us that our Lord Jesus Christ is in the transformation business, and the greatest power on earth is the grace of God made available by faith.  A great preacher once said that “nature forms us, sin deforms us, schools inform us, jails reform us, the Word conforms us, but Jesus transforms us.” He changes people. He literally, actually, eternally, changes people.  He cleanses us, justifies us, and washes away all of our sin.  

Now, if your religion hasn’t changed your life, then you’d better change your religion, because you don’t have the New Testament kind of religion. Jesus is in the transformation business. There’s no one so bad he cannot be saved. God is not finished with you. God loves you, and there’s no one so good he or she need not be saved.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the transforming power of the grace of God.

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

Amen.

ABEL’S SERMON ON FAITH (Hebrews 11:4)

In today’s message we will be talking about Abel.  You may not know it, but Abel was a prophet of God, and today we will be discussing his message on faith.  The central theme of the entire 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews is that God is to be worshiped, and if God is to be worshiped, then He must be worshiped in Spirit and in truth. 

The key to Abel’s sermon on faith is that there are only two religions in the entire world: the true and the false.  That may seem narrow to you, but that’s what this message is all about. There is the religion of grace and the religion of works. There is the religion of Cain, and there is the religion of Abel.

What is the way of Cain? It is to try to save yourself by your own good works rather than by the grace of God. It represents culture rather than Calvary. Most of the people in this world don’t need religion. They need to turn from religion to Jesus Christ. Most of the people in this world are egomaniacs strutting to hell, thinking they are too good to be damned.  They believe that modern man is good.  Yet, the Bible says that man is not good, and the news is not modern. It’s as old as the book of Genesis, and it is good news for bad man.  It is the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is not salvation by works. Religion is what sinful people do for a holy God. The gospel is the good news of what a holy God has already done for sinful man.

The difference between Cain and Abel is the difference between righteousness and unrighteousness.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how we need to lay our pride and our good works in the dust, and trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  

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

Amen.