The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESURRECTION

Today, we are going to talk about why the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is so important to our faith. The simple truth is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and then on the third day, He rose bodily, physically, from the grave so that we might have everlasting life. We stand on a foundation; that foundation is the Rock, and the Rock is Christ. He came back from the dead, and Christianity rises and falls on that Rock.

It is a result of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ that all of the great doctrines of the New Testament faith ring out like a church bell with truthfulness to a lost world.

Not just forgiveness, but justification.

Not just redemption, but regeneration.

Not just remission of sin, but adoption into the family of God.

We are God’s children. We are joint heirs with Christ.

This is the importance of the Resurrection of Christ. It is an undeniable and indisputable fact in history. Everything hinges on the Resurrection. Do not insult my intelligence by saying that I believe this just because I wish it were so. I would not dedicate my life to the service of a man in a grave, and if you are in a religion where the founder of your religion is still in the grave, then your hope rests in that grave. It rests in a body that has turned to dust.

My faith rests in a risen Christ. My faith rests in a living Christ, therefore, my hope is a certain hope of eternal life with Him. Christianity is not just a creed, a code, a cause, or a church. It is a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. He alone has the words of eternal life. In Him dwells all the fullness and the wisdom of God. Only Jesus can meet the deepest desires of the human heart. Only Jesus is worthy of our faith, and it is in Jesus whom my faith rests.

Click on the link below to hear a message on why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so important to the Christian faith. If you want to know who Jesus Christ is, ask the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t just say you must believe, but if you can’t believe that is just your hard luck. God says if you want to believe, He will help you understand and know that these things are true. If you want to know the truth about Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit will speak to you and confirm to you that Jesus is the risen Christ, the Son of the Living God.

THE CHOICE THAT DETERMINES YOUR DESTINY (Revelation 14:4-13)

Chapter 14 of the Book of Revelation is a chapter of contrasts. It contrasts the Lamb and the beast, earth and heaven, and the harvest of the doomed and the harvest of the saved. It contrasts the decisions that determine a person’s eternal destiny. It also contrasts those who follow the Lamb, and those who are bossed by the beast. It is this contrast that we are studying today, and it is from understanding the characteristics of both of these groups that we can learn a great deal from to apply to our lives today. The truth is that while this chapter discusses events in the Tribulation Period, the choice that is described here, is the same choice that man has been faced with since Creation. We must choose to follow Christ, or, willingly or not, we choose to follow Satan, and it is that choice which determines our eternal destiny.

When you die, you are either going to die in the Lord, or out of the Lord. So, the question is, if you died today, would you die in the Lord, or would you die out of the Lord? If you die in the Lord, of course, God says, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. On the other hand, if you die outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, what a curse, what a sorrow, what a tragedy it would be for you. Another question to consider is, if you were to die today, where would you be? In other words, if you get to where you are headed, where will you be? Five minutes from now you may be in heaven, or you may be in hell. These are the questions that we will be asking today as we study the decisions of the living and the destiny of the dead.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the choice that will determine your eternal destiny. Is it Heaven or Hell? We will answer the question of whether Hell is real, or is it symbolic? How long will you stay in Hell? We will also discuss what your loved ones are doing in heaven today.

Amen.

THE CHARACTER OF THE 144,000 (Revelation 14:1-4)

I’ll bet this will come as a surprise to you, but, it is a Biblical truth that one day you are going to die. One day I am going to die.

Heb 9:27
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
KJV

The only intervening factor that might keep us from dying, is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And before we die, there is a choice to be made. So, today is the time of decision in your heart. God made you a living soul. Your soul will be in existence somewhere when the sun, the moon, and the stars have all grown cold. There was a time when you were not. But, there never will be a time when you will not be. Now, the question is where will you spend eternity?

Rev 14:13
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
KJV

When you die, either you are going to die in the Lord, or out of the Lord. So, the question is, if you died today, would you die in the Lord, or would you die out of the Lord? If you die in the Lord, of course, God says, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. On the other hand, if you die outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, what a curse, what a sorrow, what a tragedy it would be for you.

So, another question to consider is, if you were to die today, where would you be? In other words, if you get to where you are headed, where will you be? Five minutes from now you may be in heaven, or you may be in hell. These are the decisions of the living and the destiny of the dead.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the character of those have chosen to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, then you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. You wear the seal of possession, protection, and preservation, of the almighty God. You are the possession of God, and you can never lose your salvation. Nowhere in the Bible will you ever find where a person who was truly saved ever loses his or her salvation. Why? Because they are sealed by the Spirit. And what God has sealed, the Kings' seal can no man break.

Join in and listen to this message about the character of the 144,000 saints who witnessed for God during the Tribulation period, and how God preserved them all, not losing a single one.

Amen.

DEALING WITH PERSECUTION (Revelation 11:5-13)

The Bible says that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you live for Jesus, and your life is in obedience to the will of God, it is fruitful for God, and you are sharing the light of the gospel to a dark world, then the Bible says that you will suffer persecution.

To know that this is true, all you have to do is read the headlines of the news today. Christians are suffering severe persecution in countries all around the world. So, the question that we will look at today is, How do you deal with this persecution? What are the Biblical truths that we must apply to our lives, if we are to be successful in dealing with persecution on both a physical and spiritual level?

Click on the link below to learn the five factors that the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation about the two witnesses for God, and how they dealt with persecution. These are important lessons that we must settle in our hearts and mind if we are to be victorious in our witness for God.

Amen.

JESUS IS WORTHY OF MY WORSHIP (Revelation 5:6-14)

God has placed into the hands of men the decision as to whether or not they will accept Christ as Savior, but the decision as to whether or not they will acknowledge Him as Lord is not theirs to decide. The supreme tragedy of a lost eternity will be to know that there, shut out from the glory of heaven, sentenced to spend eternity in the burning fires of hell, all those who rejected Him as Savior, will still have to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.

He will be praised at the center of heaven by the sinless sons of light and by the redeemed of all ages with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And He will be praised from the depths of the lake of fire by every damned and outcast soul with sobs and tears and choking cries.

Isa 45:23
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
KJV

Click the link to hear a sermon on how Jesus Christ is exclusively worthy of our worship. There is none other. He is exceedingly worthy because of Calvary, because of creation, and because of conquest. He is eternally worthy forever and ever.

JESUS IS EXCLUSIVELY WORTHY (Revelation 5:1-5)

Let me begin this post with a few personal questions.

1) Do you have a cause worth living for?

2) Is what you are living for, worthy of Jesus’ dying for?

3) When you get where you are headed, where will you be?

When you put our short, mortal, lives in the context of eternity, many of us are shoveling smoke and plowing water. When this world is done, much of what we have done will make no difference whatsoever. Think about it, how much of what we have worked so hard for in this life, will extend beyond the grave, or will even exist after Jesus Christ destroys this world and creates a new heaven and a new earth?

Years ago, Reader’s Digest had an article that said in order for a person to have a meaningful life, they need three things. First, they need someone to love. Second, they need something to do. Third, they need something to hope for. I think Reader’s Digest is right, but they did not say who or what that something was. That something is Jesus Christ. He is the One we love, the One we serve, and One in whom we hope. Jesus Christ is the only One worthy of my love, my life, my all, and yours.

The fifth chapter of Revelation talks about the One who is worthy, Jesus Christ. And it brings home the fact that each of us will never have satisfaction and fulfillment, or understand why God created us, until we come to worship Him.

Click on this link to hear a sermon on just one of three things that this chapter says about why our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is worthy of our worship.

WHO IS THE RAPTURE FOR? (Revelation 4:2-4)

Certainly, the word rapture is full of meaning for Christians today. The single event that declares the church age has come to an end, is the rapture of the church. The church is defined as all those who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during the church age, or that time from Pentecost until the rapture occurs. The rapture is that event when, at the midnight cry, Jesus will come for His own. But the question that many ask is who is in that select multitude that will be taken up in the rapture?

Our churches are filled with those who look religious, act religious, pray religious, and even teach and preach religious, but they are lost. As you look across the worship service, there are those who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and there are those who only say they do. As we look at the whole crowd, they all look the same, but if we had the eyes of Christ, we could look into every heart and see a completely different picture.

And that is what separates the saved from the lost, those who are ready for Jesus Christ to come, and those who are not. At the rapture, the person sitting next to you at the dinner table will go and you will remain. Or you may go and that person will remain. Two will be sitting in church. One will be taken and the other left. There is a select multitude, and the deciding factor in whether you will go or not, is whether you have been twice born as a new creation in Christ. Only the saved will be going. If you want to be one of these select multitude, then make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior today, and then you can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon on who the Lord is coming to get at the time of the rapture. Listen to what the Word of God says about who the rapture is for. Amen.

WHAT IS THE RAPTURE (Revelation 4:1-3)

If I were to ask you to describe the rapture in two words or less, how would you respond?

For me, it would be heaven-bound. At last, I am heaven-bound. That is what the rapture means to me.

The single event that declares the church age has come to an end, is the rapture of the church. The church is defined as all those who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during the church age, or that time from Pentecost until the rapture occurs. The rapture is that event when, at the midnight cry, Jesus will come for His own.

Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, and are still living, will be miraculously transformed with glorified bodies and caught up, or raptured, into the air to meet the Lord. Those whose bodies sleep in the earth will be raised from their sleeping place to meet their heavenly spirits that are coming down with the Lord, and they will be joined together in the air. Each New Testament believer, dead or alive, will rise up to meet the Lord in the air. This is the event that is called the rapture.

The Bible calls this the blessed hope. And you need to be ready, but you don’t have to be fearful, about the coming of the Lord to catch us up in the rapture. Remember that sorrow looks backward, worry looks all around us, but hope looks upward. We are on a collision course with destiny, and we cannot afford to be ignorant.

Click on the link below to hear a sermon on what the rapture is and when it will occur. Jesus is coming again, the question is, are you ready? Amen.

A ROAD MAP OF THE END TIMES (Revelation 1:19)

Many people ask if there is a key to understanding the Book of Revelation? The answer is yes! God’s purpose is not to conceal, but to reveal. This golden key is hanging right on the front door in verse 19 of the first chapter of Revelation. It is John’s commission to write the Book of Revelation. In fact, John got his commission from the Trinity Book Publishing company. Jesus Christ, one of the three partners in the Trinity Book Publishing company, tells John,

Rev 1:19
19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
KJV

Now, contrary to what some will tell you, the Book of Revelation is primarily a prophetic book. It tells us about the things which shall be hereafter, it is not a history book. Revelation is a book of prophecy, and only God knows the future. God alone can prophecy what will occur in the future. Satan cannot prophecy at all.

Today, I want to give us a panoramic view of the prophecy we find in this book so we can use it as a guide to what we are seeing in these prophecies. I am not going to go into them deeply, because we will be doing that over the next several months, years, or however long it takes us to get through this wonderful book of prophecy. But I do want you to have a roadmap to work from in our study.

Click the link to hear a podcast on the major branches of prophecy that will occur in the future. Jesus Christ is coming to judge the world, and God wants you to know what is going to happen so you can be ready.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR HIS COMING? (2 Peter 3:10-12)

The world is going to pieces.  It is falling apart all around us. But Peter says, that what is happening today should not be what the believer is looking for and working toward. Our focus should be on completing our mission of sharing the gospel to a lost world, but our hearts should be looking for the Second Coming of our Lord and the new heavens and the new earth that He is going to create.

Jesus Christ is coming again, and those who have rejected Him will spend eternity in the fires of Hell. I can’t say it any plainer than that. If you reject Christ as your Savior, then you will spend eternity in Hell. Not only is Jesus coming again to judge the wicked, but He is going to destroy the current heavens and the earth by fire and create a new heaven and a new earth. This new heaven and new earth, and our home on it, is what we are to be looking for. Let me tell you, the world is indeed getting ready to come apart.

Someone once told Mark Twain that they were afraid the world was going to end, and he said, “Don’t worry about it, we can do without it.” We can, and we will, do without this corrupt world, but we will have a new heaven and a new earth to live on. In our lesson today, Peter is going to tell us that since we know that all of these things are true, there should be changes in the way we live today. There should be an urgency to our mission. There should be a desire to live a life that is pleasing to God. There should be a fire burning within each believer to do everything they can to hasten the coming of the Lord. Somewhere out there is the last soul that the Lord is waiting on to be saved. If we truly want the Lord to come, then we need to be working hard to accomplish the tasks that we have been given. We should be sharing the gospel message to the lost souls that Jesus Christ has said He is waiting on, so that none should perish.

We are the tools that God uses to bring those souls to Him. We pray for His guidance on where those souls are, and which ones we are to evangelize to, and then we labor to bring them in. In doing so, we hasten the day of His coming.

Listen to this podcast to learn what we should be doing to hasten the coming of our Lord. We will answer the questions, What role are you playing in the purposes of God? Are you really looking for that day, and working toward it? If not, Peter says, get ready, be looking, and be working for the coming of the day of our God.