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Each week a new verse-by-verse Bible study podcast given in expository style. Join us and see the Bible come alive as we study the truths that God‘s Word has for us.
Episodes
Sunday Oct 29, 2023
Sunday Oct 29, 2023
Chapters 11 and 12 of the Book of Genesis mark an important turning point in the Scriptures. Up to this point, the story has been that of the whole Adamic race. There has been neither Jew nor Gentile. All have been one in “the first Adam.”
From this point forward in the Scriptures, the human race must be seen as a great river from which God, in the call of Abraham, and the creation of the nation of Israel, draws off a small stream through which He may at last purify the great river itself. Israel is the tool through which God chose to bring a Savior to the world. It is important for us to note that neither Abraham, nor Israel, were perfect, they didn’t do anything special to deserve this. In fact, as we will see today, Abraham was far from perfect. But, when God spoke to him, Abraham responded, and that is exactly what God was looking for. It was by grace that God chose Abraham, and the nation Israel, to bring revelation and salvation to the world. It was through the faith of Abraham that the nation Israel would be called.
Click on the play button to hear a message on how our obedience to God comes after we have stopped telling God what we want to do, and listen to what He wants us to do. Let me illustrate that with a question, how much of your prayer time do you spend telling God what you want, rather than being quiet and listening to what He wants to tell you? That is a measure of how much you harken/obey God, for you cannot obey God until you know what He wants you to do. Abraham was obedient to God because he listened, and then transformed what he heard into action.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Monday Oct 23, 2023
Monday Oct 23, 2023
In today’s message we are going to learn something about that mighty city called Babylon, which symbolically, and cryptically, and prophetically, stands for the consummation and the distillation of all evil. And pay attention, because “The Rise and Fall of Babylon” is not something that just happened in the dark, musty past, or something that’s going to happen way off yonder in the future. It deals with realities that we are facing every day. And we’re going to find out something about the person and work of the devil as we study here in Genesis chapters 10 and 11. We are going to learn about this wicked city of Babylon, which was both the cradle and the grave of all false religion, and the devil’s kingdom.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how Babylon is destined to fall. Just as this ancient tower of Babel crumpled so long ago, we find that the final full-blown Babylon is coming down; it is crashing down. And I want to tell you something: You may not have ever realized this, but the first time that the word “alleluia” is used in all the New Testament is after Babylon falls. You won’t find the word “alleluia” used any other time. But it is after Babylon falls that the “Alleluia Chorus” begins.
Rev 19:1-3
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
KJV
Rev 19:6
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
KJV
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Jul 10, 2022
Sunday Jul 10, 2022
The message of the book of Hebrews is that Christ is alive and working for you, right now. You need to bring Him into your life. This is a relationship with God that the Jews never had with the Old Testament, or Covenant, that was the Mosaic Law and the Temple rituals. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ushered in a new Covenant, a new relationship with God, and it was actually the fulfillment of all that God had given man in the Old Covenant.
Under the New Covenant, it is in Christ that we have a better priest; we have a better sacrifice; and we have a better tabernacle. All of this converges in Christ because He is all three. He is a better priest that ministers there. He is the better sacrifice because He offered Himself, and He ministers in a better tabernacle, for He offered his own blood for your sin and mine. Christ is the Mediator of the better Covenant because it contains better promises. First, the New Covenant is better than the Mosaic Covenant, not morally, but because it has the power to produce the desired result. The New Covenant gives us Christ as the Perfect Mediator. Second, it is established on better, unconditional, promises.
Under the New Covenant we obey God as a result of our worship of God. Not because we fear His judgment; that has already been settled by Christ, but because of our faith and love. True worship means the living Christ is real to you, you walk with Him daily, and you serve and obey Him. Then, we have a better covenant because the New Covenant secures the personal revelation of the Lord to every believer.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the fact that with Christ as our Great High Priest, and the New Covenant that God has made with man, that we now have a salvation that is secure, and the power of the Holy Spirit in our heart to enable us to do the will of God in our lives.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 11, 2020
Sunday Oct 11, 2020
David was a man that God loved in a special way, and David loved God in a special way, as well. In our message today, David wants to be the kind of king that God wants him to be. In order to do that, David knows that he needs God’s power, he needs God’s anointing, and he needs God’s presence.
Now, if you want to have, and to know, the conscious presence of the Lord in your life, then there is the holy reverence towards God, and the things of God, that you must express. The reason that some people do not know the conscious presence of God is they have lost a holy reverence for God. We see an example of that in the way that David tried to move the Ark of The Covenant into the city of Jerusalem. David’s first attempt to bring the ark in was lost because he did not express a holy reverence for the things of God. He became careless in the things of God, and his carelessness led to a great calamity that day.
The interesting thing here is David is following the way of the world rather than following the Lord. Now, God had said clearly, specifically, and plainly, how the ark was to be transported, but rather than transporting it as God had said to transport it, David starts out to do a good thing the wrong way, and what he’s doing is just simply disobeying the Lord.
Now, we can have the presence of God in our church and we can have the presence of God in our lives, but if we do, it’s going to be God’s way, not ours. You know what’s wrong with so many churches today? They’ve learned from the world, and they’re following the ways of the world. In fact, the world is conforming the Church more than the Church is transforming the world. We are being conformed by the world rather than being transformed by the Spirit of God, and it’s amazing how the spirit of this world has crept into so many churches.
When we choose to follow the way of the world, we are disobedient to God. What follow’s our disobedience of God? God’s displeasure with us, and then comes discouragement, and then comes defeat.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how if you want to have the conscious presence of God in your life, then you must have a holy reverence for God, and the things of God. You cannot lay profane and unholy hands on the things of God by being disobedient to His Word. We need a reverence for God, for holy things. We ought to be on our face before the thrice holy God of Israel. We ought to tremble in the presence of God.
Amen.
Sunday Sep 27, 2020
Sunday Sep 27, 2020
When I look at the life of Saul, it gives me pause, and it challenges me, because what happened to Saul could happen to me, and it could happen to you or anyone. Today, we are going to talk about the folly of disobedience. We need to learn that fools are not born, they are made, and generally, they are self-made.
Saul, was a man who had it all. In fact, no man ever had a better start than the man named Saul, and nobody ever had a sadder finish than the man named Saul. When we first meet Saul in the Bible, he was Israel's first king, he is handsome, he is courteous, he is thoughtful, he is humble, he is young, and he is vital, virile, and vivacious. Yet, when you look at this same man when he becomes older, you see him as a bitter, murderous, envious, wicked, and desperate old man. You look at him and say, "How could it be? How could someone who started out so well, end so poorly?”
Click on the link below to learn that there can be no success without obedience. Saul failed to obey the Word of God. No matter how much you know; no matter how much you have; no matter how much influence and authority you have, if you do not obey God, then you are going down, because you are practicing witchcraft. “God says that Disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft.”
The song says that we are to trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
As I have gotten older, and God has made it plain that I have a lot fewer days ahead of me than I do behind me. Do you know what my prayer is for me? I want to end well. I would not be honest with you if I did not tell you that I believe that God has had His hand on my life, and I bless Him for it. I bless Him for these years. I regret the years that I spent not doing what God wanted me to do, but I rejoice in the days that God has let me teach His Holy Word. So, my prayer is now that God will let me end well.
No one is immune to the deceiving and deadening power of sin if he becomes self-willed rather than Spirit-filled. We will never be over the power of sin in our lives until we are under the power of the Holy Spirit of God. We cannot defeat sin without God in our hearts.
I don’t care who you are, or what you’ve achieved. I pray God that every one of us will have enough sense not to play the fool. Never a man had a better start, and never did a man end more tragically, than Saul, the man who had it all.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
The Bible story of David and Goliath is one of the most familiar in the Bible. You don’t even have to be a Christian to know this story. There have been books and movies, and even TV shows based on this story. Michelangelo even depicted the story on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. We are told this story from the time we are a child. The image of a young man with just five smooth stones and a sling against a giant of a man in full battle armor is iconic in Bible history. It is a story that reveals more than human bravery. It reveals that, even as a boy, David had a heart for God.
The key to this whole story is found in the fact that David didn’t volunteer to fight the giant because his people were being shamed. No, David fought Goliath because Goliath was defying the armies of the living God! David, put his faith in God. He knew that God would deliver the giant into his hands. David testified to his faith in God telling the giant “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.”
Powerful words of faith from such a young man.
David knew that it was not by chance that God had led him to this battlefield. David could say in his heart that it is not by chance that he was born into Jesse's family. It is not by chance that he had seven older brothers. It is not by chance that he had to fight for his place in the family, not with carnal weapons, but with spiritual ones. It is not by chance that I learned early to love, trust, and obey the living God. It is not by chance that God has become my constant companion and guide. It is not by chance that I learned to play the harp and write great hymns which will be sung by God's people forever. Such things do not happen by chance; they happen by choice. God chose me, and I chose Him.
It is not by chance that I became a shepherd and developed a heart for the flock. It is not by chance that God gave me courage to face the lion and the bear in the wilderness of which you speak. It is not by chance that I have great skill with a sling and a stone. That skill represents hard work and constant practice. And it is not by chance that I am not afraid of Goliath and you are. And it is not by chance that we are where we are and that we are who we are.
David learned that he could not use the weapons of this world to fight the battle. He had to use his own weapons, his own methods, those in which God had schooled him. The believer today needs to recognize that the world can be overcome only by his faith and confidence in God.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 23, 2020
Sunday Aug 23, 2020
This message is the first in a series of messages on the life of David. Now, you might ask what is so special about David that we should devote precious Bible study time on his life? Well first, with the exception of the Lord Jesus, more Scripture is devoted to David than to any other individual. God doesn’t waste valuable Scripture on things that are not important, and if God gives us this much Scripture on one person, then perhaps we should study and learn from that information. The second reason is that next to Joseph, David is the most Christlike man in the Bible.
When we think of David, the first image that comes to my mind is as the king of Israel. Others would say that the first image that comes to their mind is that of a shepherd. Certainly, as a youth he tended sheep, and until the end of his days he had a shepherd's (pastor's) heart. It is for this reason that he is set forth in the Old Testament as the ideal king. God's intention was that any prince among His people should also be a pastor of his people.
David was a handsome young man, but God did not choose him for that reason. God knew his heart. He was God’s choice. Although David failed, down underneath was a faith that never failed. David loved and trusted God. He wanted to walk with Him. God took him to the woodshed and punished him within an inch of his life, and David never whimpered or cried out. He wanted that fellowship with God, and God loved him. He was a man after God’s own heart.
If you are a true child of God, and have Jesus Christ as your Lord, then you have experienced times when you failed God. Every Christian has. This study of the life of David will teach us how God deals with our failures and then restores us to fellowship with Him.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how God chooses the man that He wants to lead Israel, and how God chooses you as well.
Amen.
Sunday May 24, 2020
Sunday May 24, 2020
Jesus came to this earth to reveal the true nature of the sin that is in the heart of every person. He came to show the world that there was a way out of the darkness of sin and into the light of truth and eternal life. But Jesus was judged and condemned to die on a cross by a world that did not want to come out of the darkness to have their deeds reproved. They chose darkness over light.
John 3:19-20
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.
KJV
All of us face this timeless challenge and respond one way or another. Salvation, and eternal life in heaven, is not about our works, it is about what we decide to do with Jesus Christ. Just as the men who rejected Christ did, we either cry "Crucify him" or "Crown him." There is no middle ground. You can’t work your way into heaven, pay your way, or be religious enough to be saved. You must decide to crown Him Lord of your heart or crucify Jesus in your heart. Just like each of the men who put Jesus Christ on trial, you must decide to crucify an innocent man, or make Him your Savior.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Jews and the Gentiles alike rejected the one true Son of God and the free gift of salvation and eternal life that He offered them.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
Jesus Christ has been my Lord and Savior since I was a young man. His Holy Spirit has lived in my heart for more than 50 years. In fact, it is hard for me to remember a time when the Holy Spirit was not my constant companion in everything that I did. I have chosen to live my life in the center of God’s will. I am God’s servant and that is the desire of my heart, to serve God in all that I do. However, that has not always been the case. There have been periods of my life when I have ignored Holy Spirit who lives within my heart. I have put Him in closet within my heart and told Him that He was not welcome in certain areas of my life. I wanted Him close by if I needed Him, but otherwise I didn’t want to be bothered. I wanted to live my life, my way. Now, every single time I did that, the Holy Spirit convicted me, chastised me, even took me out to the woodshed to discipline me. In short, I failed in all aspects of my life when Jesus was not first in my life. It is when Jesus is the President of my life, not just a resident, that I truly live an abundant life in the way God wants me to live.
As a result of this lifelong relationship with Jesus, it is sometimes hard for me to understand why someone would choose to reject Jesus as the Son of God, as their Lord, and as their Savior. Knowing what I know and what it has meant to me, it just doesn’t make sense to me why the vast majority of people would turn away from the free gift of eternal life in heaven with Jesus. It boggles my mind. Yet, it is true. Whether it is for self-centered reasons, or to chase after a false religion, they deliberately, willfully, and knowingly, choose to reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It doesn’t mean they cannot be reached. It doesn’t mean that they are morally bad people. It just means that, so far, they have made a deliberate decision to reject Christ. It means that if they were to die today, they would spend eternity in Hell, without God. Unfortunately, the longer a person lives rejecting Jesus, the harder it gets to ever reach them with the truth of who Jesus is. In other words, their mind is set in its ways. Their heart becomes hardened to the gospel message that is found in the Bible. They say, it cannot be true. That the words of the Bible have been corrupted by man. When you die, you die, and that is it.
Listen to me, the Bible is the one true word of God, and the God that I believe in, is powerful enough to protect His word from any efforts by man to corrupt it. If you believe that man can corrupt God’s Word, then you do not believe in the same almighty Creator of all things that I do. You do not believe in the God of the Bible.
I also believe that there comes a time in everyone’s life when they must choose Jesus as their Savior, or to reject Him. The Holy Spirit is patient with each of us.
2 Peter 3:9
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.
KJV
Jesus declared that He stands at the door knocking.
Rev 3:20
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
KJV
Jesus wants you to choose Him, but when the Holy Spirit determines that your decision is final, He will stop convicting you, and walk away. He will harden your heart to the word of God, and you will be doomed to die and go to Hell.
Click on the link below to hear a message about how the Jews, in their stubborn unbelief, finally rejected Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus stopped knocking, stopped pleading with them, and then hardened their hearts.
Amen.
Sunday Sep 29, 2019
Sunday Sep 29, 2019
Have you ever had an event or an experience that you knew was going to be really, really, bad in front of you? You knew it needed to be done, people were depending on you, but you had a few days that you had to get through before it would begin? The waiting, the dreading, the sheer horribleness of it playing on your mind. I can think of things like watching my mother’s last few days on the earth, and the suffering she was dealing with. I knew her death was imminent. I knew it would happen in the next few days. I knew she would be in heaven soon, but I had to steel myself for the emotions that would come.
A soldier facing some kind of really tough battle. He knows the chances were slim that he was going to make it, but he couldn’t let his brothers in arms down. These were men he depended on, and they were the ones who depended on him, so he prepared himself to deal with it.
This is what our next few messages are going to be about for Jesus. He knew this was the reason that He had come to earth. His whole life had been about this coming hour. The entire human race depended on Him completing the work of salvation. He knew that He was about to carry the burden of every sin that had ever been committed and would ever be committed. He knew the ugliness of the world’s worst sins was about to be thrust upon Him and He would have to die as punishment for that sin. He dreaded the hour, but He knew the whole world depended on Him, and so He prepared Himself. There was so much He needed to do before that hour came, but His disciples needed to hear what He had to say. These next several weeks are going to be a study in how much Jesus loved each and every one of us, even the Jews and the Romans who would crucify Him.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what is likely the Lord’s last attempt to convince the Jews that He was the Son of God, the Promised Messiah.
Amen.