The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

This is an important lesson for everyone.  The name Jesus is not a name to be cursed.  It is not a name to be used in jest.  It is not a name to be used casually.  It is not a name to be used to make a profit with, and it is not a name to be rejected.  

The name Jesus is a name to be worshipped.  It is the name of the Son of the Almighty God.  It is the name of my Lord and Savior.  It is the name that all men, all demons, and all powers, are subject to, and will bow down to.  There is power in the name of Jesus, soul saving, demon conquering, life transforming power, in the name of Jesus.

Yet, so many people reject Jesus as the Son of God, and all of the work that He has done to bring salvation to a dark world mired in sin.  It is important to see the significance of this failure to believe that Jesus is the Christ.  The Bible tells us that “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” 

It is the rejection of Jesus Christ as your Savior that will determine where you spend eternity.  In heaven with Him, or in Hell without Him.  Not good works versus bad works, not how much money you give, not how eloquent you speech is.  None of that will decide your eternal fate.  The Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved.”

In our lesson today, Paul’s focus was to bring the people of the region to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit would do mighty works through Paul, making this one of his most effective ministries.  Millions of people would hear the Word of God as the gospel message radiated out from Ephesus like the spokes of a wheel.  Churches would be founded in the region around Ephesus, and people would come to know the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can know Jesus, the Son of the Living God.  

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

Amen.

In our lesson today, we are going to discuss the importance of whose name you are baptized with.  The Scriptures tells us that Jesus commissioned the Apostles to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

This is the Chrisitan baptism, a believer’s baptism.  The apostles were to go out and carry the message of Jesus everywhere in the world, and then, baptize the converts in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  

Christian baptism looks back to Jesus’ coming to die. Looks up to the throne where He now sits at the Father’s right hand, and looks toward the end of the dispensation when He will come again.  The importance of Paul’s question “Unto whose name where you baptized?” was to help people realize that there was something missing in their faith.  They needed Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Baptism is not required to be saved, but we are baptized in obedience to the Lord’s command, and it testifies to the world that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.  That we have died to sin, and that we have been raised to walk in the newness of life.  

Click on the link below to hear a lesson where Paul tells us of the importance of being baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  No other baptism, by any other name, meets this command.

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

Amen.

According to the Barna Research Institute, there is something happening in America and in our spiritual world that is frightening, even alarming. According to Mr. Barna, nearly two out of three American adults say that the choice of one’s faith is really irrelevant since all religions basically teach the same message. That is, it’s a smorgasbord; you can pick and choose which Biblical truths you like, or don’t like, and it really doesn’t make all that much difference what you believe.    

Christ is just one of many options, and you can choose to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ if you want to.  We live in a day of pluralism. Now, what pluralism means is that we are all un-American if we don’t put our arms around them and say, “Your faith, your religion, is just as good as ours.” As a matter of fact, today even tolerance is passé. They say, “We don’t want to be tolerated. That infers we’ve done something wrong. We want to be accepted and affirmed, no matter what we practice or how we believe.”  Beyond just tolerating them, we are told that we have to affirm them, and even celebrate them.  

Now, that is happening right here in America, and it is no longer just a left coast thing, it is a very real fact all across America. And, what I want to talk to you about today is “How to Stand Firm in An Unbelieving World,” and give you some support, and to give you some hope.  Because we don’t need to stutter or stammer when we talk about our faith.  

We can understand what we believe, and why we believe it.  And we can hoist the flag of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ very high, and expect people to bow their knee to Jesus Christ. And, we have good reasons for believing what we believe.

Click on the link below to hear a lesson on how you can stand firm in your faith.

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

Amen.

In today’s lesson, the apostle Paul tells us how we can know Jesus as God.  Many people know about God, and they may know a little about Jesus, but they do not know Jesus as God. Others, know a great deal about man-made gods, but they do not know the Creator, the true and living God, nor do they know Jesus as God.  

They do not know the gospel message of the birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  They do not know that Jesus Christ has provided them with the very thing they need most of all, a perfect, completed salvation, which is given only by the grace of God.  

They do not know that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, whom the whole creation is groaning for, waiting for, and looking for.  This is what today’s lesson is about.  Bringing the gospel message to a world that does not know Jesus as God.  

Paul’s sermon takes place in Athens, which was the university city of the world.  Art, literature, philosophy, religion, mathematics, science, and democracy were all the stuff that Athens was made of.  When you think of the liberal theology and philosophy that exists in our universities today, this is what the entire city of Athens was like.  It was a place where the absolute truths of God’s Word had been replaced with the absolute chaos of man’s basest desires being met at his own whim.  For all its knowledge, Greek civilization was spiritually bankrupt.  

God’s Word tells us that Jesus came to reveal to men the true God, and Paul had come to Athens to proclaim Him.  Paul wanted to tell them about Jesus as God.  Paul knew Him as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, as the rock of ages, the Shepherd of Israel, and the fountain of living water.  He knew Him to be the incarnate Word, God manifest in flesh, Jesus Christ the Lord.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can know Jesus as God.

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

Amen.

In today's lesson, I want to make the plan of salvation so plain and clear that we can share it with a world that is looking for something to fill that God-sized void in their lives.  

In the Bible, God spells it out in a simple way because He wants people to be saved. He wants people to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, I want to give you a story in the Bible that makes it clear how a person can know, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that he or she has been saved and that they will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus Christ.

To be saved, you must realize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that you have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the penalty of that sin is death.  

Next, you must repent of your sin.  The word repent means that you agree with God that what you have done is wrong.  It means that you stop going the way you are living and turn 180 degrees around and head towards God.  You commit to God that you will not continue to live your life in sin.

Then, you must choose to receive, or accept, that Christ died on the cross so that you would not have to pay the penalty for that sin.  That Christ died in your place.  That He paid your penalty in full.  That Christ died, that He was buried, and that He rose again from the grave so that you could receive the free gift of salvation provided by grace of God.  Your faith is on the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is His blood, and His blood alone, that washes your sin away and clothes you in His righteousness.  

Your faith is on Christ, not your works, that is how you are saved, and the good news of the gospel is that this offer of grace is open to you.  The Bible teaches that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  That word “whosoever” means “whosoever,” it means even you.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can spend eternity with God in heaven.

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

Amen.

This question is asked by the Philippian jailer in our lesson today, but it has been asked by millions, upon millions, of lost people over the last two thousand years.  For it is the single most important question that a person must ask in their lifetime.  The answer to this all-important question is provided for us in God’s Word, and our response is what determines how we will spend eternity.

It is important to understand that it is not the amount, or kind, of sin in our life that condemns us; it is the fact of sin in our life that condemns us.  Yet, we will not be judged and sent to an eternity in hell because of our sin.  We will be judged and sent to an eternity in hell because of our rejection of Jesus Christ and the light of salvation that He has provided to us through the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Silas provided a two-part answer to the jailer.  The first part was “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” There is only one way to come to God, and that is by faith in Jesus Christ, and not works.

Charles Spurgeon stated the following: “It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ.  It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee, it is Christ.  It is not even thy faith in Christ that saves thee, though that be the instrument.  It is Christ’s blood and merit.”

It is Christ’s blood that saves us, faith just grabs hold of it for us—that is all.  

The Word of God is the second part of the answer. The question for the jailer, and any lost person, becomes do you believe God or not?  Our faith comes from our heart.  It is by knowing that the Bible is the Word of God that our faith can be based on knowledge.  It is not some mystery that we cannot know.

Click on the link below to hear a message that answers the question, “What must I do to be saved?”

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

Amen.

Just because something looks like the right thing to do, just because all the circumstances point that way, just because one’s own desires affirm the move, and just because everyone else urges it as the sensible thing to do, it does not necessarily follow that it is the will of God.  The important question to ask is, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”  

Your great desire ought to be to know His will.  Your great delight will be to do His will.  Your great danger is to refuse His will.  

The truth about God’s will is that guidance is promised.  God wants you to know His will for your life.  He will make it known to you, if you are willing to fully surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

Now, it may sound simplistic, but the will of God for you is Jesus, just Jesus.  Jesus is the head of the church, and the church is the body.  What is the will of my body? My head.  Who is my head? Jesus. What is the will of the church of the body of believers? Jesus, the head of the church.  The will of God for your life is Jesus.  He is your Lord.  Know Him, know the will of God.

Here are three principles about the will of God:

• The will of God is for your welfare.  It is not something you have to do; it is something you get to do.  

• The will of God will never take you where the power of God and the grace of God cannot enable and keep you.

• You are free to choose.  God will never force His will upon you.  You are free to choose His will.  You are not free not to choose.  You have to make a choice.  When you say, “Well, I just won’t choose anything.” You just made a choice.  You are free to choose, you are not free to choose the consequences of your choice.  You make a choice and the choice chooses the consequences for you.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can know the will of God for your life.  

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

Amen.

One of the greatest things about being a Christian is knowing that God’s plan will always prevail.  Amen?  What is sad about this knowledge is that the lost people I know do not have this comfort.  They either have been told about God and rejected Him, or they simply do not know Him.  

The Holy Spirit always has His way in the end.  He does not force His will, He does not coerce.  He remains invisible, inaudible, but infinite, inescapable, and infallible, guiding all things to work out His sovereign will.  This is something that should fill us with joy and praise for God.  

When everything seems to be going wrong, when truth seems to always be playing with a handicap, when the right seems to be outmaneuvered by the wrong, when misguided men have somehow seemingly been able to destroy or disrupt that which was of God, we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is at work and all things will work out to His sovereign will.  The Holy Spirit never loses, never fails, and never deviates from His purpose.  His will always prevails in the end.  

The battle between God and Satan is not a battle of equals. It is a battle between the Creator, and the created.  Satan was created by God, and he will be destroyed by God.  Satan is absolutely no match for the almighty power of God.  

Click on the link below to hear a message about God’s plan for both the Gentiles and the Jews.  How God is visiting “the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.” This is why we should feel anxious to share the Word of God. Right now, there are people of every color, every race, and of every nation who need to hear the Word of God.   

What does God do with that Word? He is calling out a people for His name.  Not everyone who hears believes the Word. Not everyone accepts the good news of Jesus Christ. But of those who hear, God calls out a people for His name. 

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

Amen.

If this is the question you ask yourself at the end of each day, then I have some really good news for you.  That good news is, Your Salvation is by grace, not works.  God’s provision is that salvation is granted to us by our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

God tells us in His word, over and over again, in plain and simple words that “No, you have not been good enough.  Not today, or any other day of your entire life.  Not even close.”  In fact, I would not bet on the best 15 minutes of my life to get me into heaven, because it won’t. The truth is, no matter who you are, no matter how good your intentions are, you cannot be good enough to stand before God as righteous.  The Apostle Paul couldn’t.  Peter couldn’t.  Abraham couldn’t.  Billy Graham couldn’t, and the Pope most certainly couldn’t.  Nobody, not one of the great heroes of the Bible, and not one of the religious leaders of today, could stand on their works as justification for their salvation.  

But God does not leave you with just the statement that your works are as filthy rags before His Holiness.  The good news proclaimed in His word is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has done all the work for your salvation.  Now, all you have to do is believe on Him, confess and repent of your sins, and accept God’s gracious gift of eternal life.  That is all there is to it.  It is so simple, it is difficult.  It is difficult because most people can’t believe it is that simple.  It is simple because God did the difficult part.  Don’t believe for an instant that your salvation came easily and without great sacrifice.  God choose His only begotten Son to die on the cross for you as payment for your sin, and so that your salvation might be simple.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on the gospel truth that salvation is by God’s grace and not works.

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

Amen.

People are drawn to religion.  Any form of religion.  Be it the religion of evolution, or atheism, or voodoo, or satanic cults, man wants to worship something.  The world is full of false religions started by Satan who understands man’s desire to worship.  He just wants to be the object of man’s worship.  

Every religion that Satan starts is just a distraction from the real worship of the almighty God.  Satan’s goal is to send you to hell, by deceiving you into believing that you can work your way into heaven.  He wants you to believe that it is the offering that makes a difference in men today.  The offering of the lost person is his works.  The lost person believes it is his good works that matter, that make him better or worse than someone else.  A recent poll stated that a majority of Americans believed that the basis that someone would get into heaven would be on how good their works were.  It also said that if people believed in a hell, that only the really bad people would go there.  Without a doubt this is the best false religion that Satan has going. 

But no true believer takes the position that he is better than anyone else. The thing that makes him a Christian is that he recognizes that he is a sinner like everyone else and that he needs an offering, he needs a sacrifice, and he needs Someone to take his place and to die for him.  

That Someone is Jesus Christ.  

As believers, we know that for our righteousness to be acceptable to God it must be a perfect righteousness, one that we are incapable of providing on our own, and that it can only come through the blood of Christ.  The Bible tells us that Christ died and was raised for our righteousness. He was the One who took our place.  Our righteousness is obtained through our faith in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Clink on the link below to hear a message on what it takes to defeat false religion.

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

Amen.