The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

A BOX OF BONES (Genesis 50:22-26)

A BOX OF BONES (Genesis 50:22-26)

Today, we close out our study of the book of Genesis.  It has certainly been a good study about the power of God, and the faith of each of the people we have encountered.  We have studied about the wonderful creation of all things by the mighty power of God, and the destruction of The Flood as God’s judgment of evil man.  Then, we have studied about the faith of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  Each man giving us an example of how to live a life of faith in spite of the trials and tribulations that faced them.  In fact, our closing lesson is going to be another example of the faith of Joseph.  The title of our lesson today is, “A Box of Bones.” 

The very last words of the book of Genesis are “a coffin in Egypt.”  Now, that’s a strange way for a book to end.  It begins with creation, and it ends in a coffin. The devil said to Eve at the beginning of creation, “Ye shall not surely die; that you can sin with impunity.” But, the fact is the devil lied, because we have had one funeral after another. And so, the book that begins with a blaze of glory ends with a grave. The book that begins with the vastness of eternity, ends with the shortness of time. The book that begins in a garden, ends in a coffin. And the book that begins with a blaze of brightness, ends with a box of bones, the bones of Joseph.

Did you know that the bones of Joseph are mentioned not only in the book of Genesis, but in the book of Hebrews, as well? And not only in the book of Hebrews, but in the book of Exodus? And not only in the book of Exodus, but in the book of Joshua? God tells us about those bones, and then He tells us about them three more times.  Now, what have we said about what we need to do when God repeats something multiple times in the Bible?  We need to pay real close attention because God repeats the things that He feels are very important for us to understand.  

Click on the play button to hear a message on how the faith of Joseph can be found in a box of bones.

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

Amen.

DYING GRACE (Genesis 47:28-29)

DYING GRACE (Genesis 47:28-29)

God gives us “living grace,” and “saving grace,” and God gives us “special grace.”  So, the God who saves us, and the God who keeps us, and the God who gives us rewards in heaven, is the God who will give to us “dying grace.”

The Bible is clear that there is coming a day that I am going to die, and there is a day that each one of you will die.  It is a fact that we all must die, with the one exception: should the Lord Jesus Christ come first, then we will not die, and we’ll not go to heaven by route of the graveyard, but we’ll go another way.

But before we talk about dying grace, I need to ask you this question, Have you been born again? Listen, if you haven’t been saved, then you’re not ready to die. You are also not ready to live, unless you’ve been saved. Now, you cannot have dying grace unless you’ve experienced saving grace.  That is the first thing that you need to get done.

Now, Jacob had twelve sons, and they were mean as snakes—rascals, and rebellious. They were hard to deal with. But he kept on. He prayed for those boys. He lived before those boys. He witnessed to those boys. He admonished those boys. And he brought those boys to a faith in his God. And he left behind him a spiritual blessing for his children. And I want to tell you, that’s a good way to die, isn’t it? To leave a family behind you that, because you were their daddy, because you were their mother, they know God in a better way.

I know that with my own children, I prayed to God and said, “God, I want to be a good father. I want to live so that my children will know the Lord. I want them to believe in their father’s God.”  You know, I’d rather die than betray my God before my children. And my children know that their father hasn’t been perfect, but my children know that their father loves God. They know that. And they know that their mother loves God. And I’m so glad that one of these days when I lie down to die, not only will I have a forgiving Lord with me, and I trust a fruitful life behind me, but I will have a family legacy after me. I want to leave something besides things to my children. I want to leave some spiritual vitality to my children.  

Click on the play button to hear a message on what it means to have dying grace.

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

Amen.

THE MEANING OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD

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.

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.

CROSSING GOD’S DEADLINE PART II (Proverbs 29:1)

The Bible teaches that in front of every unsaved man there is a deadline.  It teaches that if he crosses that deadline, he is just as lost, just as certainly doomed, just as destined for hell as though he were already there and as though the iron gates of hell had already clanged shut behind him. It is possible for a man to commit a sin in this life; it is possible for a person to come in this life to a point which, if he commits that sin and transgresses and goes beyond that point, he can never; no, never; no, never be saved. He will cross God’s deadline.  Now, just to be clear, this is not about any so-called unpardonable sin, it is about you rejecting God more times than God is willing to let you pass, and God makes the sovereign decision to turn His patience to wrath.   

Now, make no mistake, God’s Spirit does strive with us, and God is infinitely patient with us in that He often reproves us.  Time and time and time and time again, God speaks, and God woos, and God warns, and God pleads, and God instructs, and God reproves. But there comes a time when the Holy Spirit can be so insulted, so sinned against, that you cross a deadline that God has set for you, and God’s gentle precious Holy Spirit no longer speaks to your heart.

Now, here is the most chilling part of this spiritual desertion.  Did you know that you cannot be saved unless the Holy Spirit of God draws you to Jesus Christ?  That is true, and if you cross God’s deadline, that in His omniscience He has sovereignly set for you, and the Holy Spirit stops speaking to you, then you will never be saved.

Click on the link below to hear a message on what God’s Word says about Crossing God’s Deadline.

Amen.

 

WHAT IF THERE HAD BEEN NO EASTER?

How many of you have heard of a man named Harry Houdini? Most of you have.  Houdini died in October of 1926. But his claim to fame was that he was a magician who specialized in spectacular escapes.  It was said of Houdini that he had the flexibility of an eel, and he had the lives of a cat. They did all kinds of things to try to trap him. They would seal him in coffins—he would escape. They riveted him into a boiler—he escaped. They sewed him up in canvas bags—he escaped. They locked him in a milk can—he escaped. They sealed him in a beer barrel—he escaped. They put him in a maximum-security prison, and old Harry somehow got out. 

But then, in October 1926, Death laid his hands upon Harry Houdini, and put him in a grave; and, he has yet to escape.  But I am sure not for a lack of trying on Houdini’s part.  As a matter of fact, he told his wife, “If there is any way out, I will find it. If there is any way out, I’ll make contact with you—and, we’ll do it on the anniversary of my death.” For 10 years, she kept a light burning over his portrait. At the end of 10 years, she turned out the light because death had Harry, and he couldn’t escape.

Now, death also laid his hands on the Lord Jesus Christ, and death put Jesus in a rock-hewn tomb. And there was a stone in the mouth of that tomb, and the seal of the Roman government was placed upon that tomb. But on the third day, Jesus Christ stirred Himself. He rose from the sleep of death. And He left those grave clothes that were wrapped around him like a butterfly would forsake a cocoon. And Jesus Christ passed through the walls of that rock-hewn tomb. By the way, the stone wasn’t rolled away to let Jesus out—it was rolled away to let the disciples in to see that Jesus had come back.

And the wonderful good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is alive today. He is not behind us in a tomb; He is before us on a throne. We thank God for that. But, suppose that had not happened. Suppose death still held Jesus, like it does Harry. Then, what? Suppose there had been no Easter.

Well, no resurrection, means no Savior. No Savior, means no forgiveness. No forgiveness, means no justification. No justification, means no cleansing. No cleansing, means the penalty of your sin is still upon you.  If the penalty of your sin is still upon you, then you are destined for death and Hell, and you’re still in your sins.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how our world, our future, and our lives, would be different if there had been no Easter.

Amen.

HE IS RISEN (John 20:11-24)

Jesus Christ rose from the grave and He is alive today sitting at the right hand of the Father. He is risen. The physical, bodily, resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave is a foundation on which our faith is based. To be a Christian means that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. For that to be true then Jesus Christ must be alive, for you cannot have a personal relationship with someone who is dead. Jesus is alive, and He lives in my heart. He is my Lord and my Savior.

In fact, the resurrection of Christ was so significant that the world should have been there paying its homage. Caesar should have come from Rome. The wise men of Athens should have been there. Caiaphas and Annas and the Sanhedrin should have been there. All of the dispersed Jews should have been there, along with Herod and his men of war. Pilate and his wife should have been there. The disciples should have been there. The roads to Jerusalem should have been crowded with pilgrims, and all of Jerusalem should have been arriving with triumphant palms. Instead the world stayed away.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the events that occurred on the day of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. On this day, the world turned from darkness to light and from death to life. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the wonderful good news of the gospel message. Because He rose, you can rise to walk in the newness of life. You can have everlasting life because Jesus conquered death. He is risen.

Amen.

THE CROSS WAS NOT THE END OF THE STORY (John 19:31-20:10)

We know that Jesus rose from the dead because Scripture tells us that after His resurrection He was touched by people, He walked, He talked, He ate, and He was seen by hundreds of people. The fact that Jesus rose bodily from the grave is a foundational principle in our faith. If you do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you cannot be saved and have everlasting life. It is that important. The resurrection has been, and still is, an integral part of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures make it clear that it was real, and you can believe it is true.

Satan and all his demons and servants in this world will tell you that it is a myth. Unbelievers have invented alternate theories, such as, Christ did not really die, he only swooned on the cross and in the tomb recovered, escaped into the night, and later showed himself to be alive; the disciples stole the body and then made up a lie about Christ's resurrection based on the fact of an empty tomb; the women who came to the tomb were half expecting a resurrection and therefore had a hallucination.

One and all, those explanations are the desperate attempts of godless men to avoid the fact that Jesus Christ is alive. God raised him from the dead. One and all, the clumsy attempts of an unbelieving world to deny the literal, bodily, resurrection of Christ from the dead break down before the facts.

Being a Christian is about a personal relationship with Christ. If Christ is not alive, then that relationship cannot exist. If Christ is still in the grave, then Satan has won, and we are all condemned to die in our sins. But Christ did rise, and you can have everlasting life when you believe on Him and make Him your Lord and Savior. It is an important principle in our faith for us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the cross was not the end of the story. Jesus rose, He is alive today, and we can have everlasting life because of His death and resurrection.

Amen.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT-PART II (John 16:7-11)

Last week we began a message on three important truths about the Holy Spirit and the work that He does in our lives. These are truths that you will never learn in school. These are truths that you will never figure out intellectually. These are truths that you will never, never, ever know until you lay your intellectual pride in the dust and let God the Holy Spirit speak to you. In fact, the most important truths that will impact your life for all of eternity can only be known by the Holy Spirit speaking them to you. You won’t learn them in school. You won’t learn them in seminary, and you won’t learn them in the school of hard knocks.

These truths are about sin, righteousness, and judgement.

I love this passage of Scripture. The Holy Spirit of God is come to convict the world of man's basic problem. He has come to convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Now in a court of law, first comes the crime. When the crime is proven, then the judgment. That's the order: the crime, the punishment. But with God, the order is different. There is, first of all, sin, then righteousness, and then judgment. God has put righteousness between sin and judgment. God has interposed the precious blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now if you don't believe on Jesus Christ, if you refuse, then there is no righteousness between sin and judgment. You just die and go to hell. I'm a sinner, by nature, by birth, by practice, but I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and, therefore, God has interposed His precious blood and His righteousness stands between me and judgment. I like that. Between me and hell there's a bloody cross that Jesus died on.

Listen, if you're not a believer, put your hand up there on your chest and you feel that little heartbeat. That's all there is between you and hell. That's all—just a heartbeat. But if you've given your heart to Jesus, if you've trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, if you've said, "My basic problem is I've not trusted Him, but I trust Him now." And then God says, "I'll give you a bountiful provision. I will give you righteousness, and for you there is therefore now no condemnation, and you're not belonging to that tribe that's following Satan. You're twice-born. You're heaven born and heaven bound.”

Click on the link below to hear a message on the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Amen.

BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM IS COMING (John 13:36 to 14:3)

In today’s message, we are going to cover a set of verses that are as clear a statement that Jesus can make that He is preparing a place for us to spend eternity with Him. He is in heaven today, but someday He is coming for us. Heaven is real, and therefore Hell is real, and I want to be with Jesus in this place that He has prepared specifically for me and everyone else who has made Him their Savior.

This set of verses talks about heaven. These verses tell everyone, who calls Jesus their Lord and Savior, that when your work for God is done on this earth, Jesus Christ has a place for you. It is a place specifically designed for you by the One who loves you like no other. One of these days, Jesus is coming for His bride, and that puts my heart at peace. I don’t have worry about my retirement plan in heaven. Jesus has already taken care of it. I don’t have worry about which medical insurance plan I need for heaven because Jesus has already taken care of that as well. The day is coming when there will be a shout, Behold, the Bridegroom is coming. That is what I am waiting on, Jesus is coming for me.

Click on the link below to hear a message on one of the most blessed truths that I know, Jesus Christ may come at any moment for His church.

John 14:1-3
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
KJV

Amen.