Episodes
Monday Sep 16, 2024
THE KINGDOM REVEALED (Genesis 46:26 to 47:26)
Monday Sep 16, 2024
Monday Sep 16, 2024
THE KINGDOM REVEALED (Genesis 46:26 to 47:26)
Our lessons over the last several weeks have used the story of Joseph and his brothers to present the picture of Christ and His relationship with the people of Israel.
We have seen that with the rejection of Joseph by his brothers, It has described the Jews rejection of Jesus as their Messiah.
Then, with the suffering and persecution of Joseph and his ultimate placement at the right hand of the throne of Pharaoh, It has described the suffering of Jesus, His resurrection, and His placement at the right hand of God,
We have also seen that the very same Joseph that the brothers had sold into the slow death of slavery now stood before them in all glory and power. This illustrates the very same Jesus, that the Jews had the Gentiles crucify, will stand before them in all glory and power.
With the brothers’ confession of their sin against Joseph, This has described the Jewish people’s confession of their sin when Christ returns to set up His Kingdom.
Through the grace of forgiveness that Joseph bestowed on His brothers when they recognized him as their brother, It has described the grace of forgiveness that will be bestowed on the Jews when they see Christ and instantly recognize Him as Lord and Master.
And in today’s lesson, as we describe the kingdom that Joseph establishes, and the role that the Hebrews will play in that kingdom, it will describe the Kingdom and rule of Jesus that will be established when Christ returns and the role of the Jews in that Kingdom.
This whole dramatic and beautiful story of Joseph is a story about the grace of God. It is a story about Jesus. It is also a synopsis of the rest of the Bible as it also tells of the relationship that we as believers have with our Lord and Master as joint heirs in the promises of the Jewish people.
Click on the play button to hear a message on God’s grace, and God’s purposes being fulfilled. It is a story of illustration of the things to come as Christ comes again to rule for ever and ever.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
THE MEANING OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
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.
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
OUR SUPERLATIVE SAVIOR - PART II (Hebrews 1:4-12)
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
Heb 1:8
8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
KJV
I want you to notice something very important here, God the Father calls God the Son, God. Now, the eternal claim of Jesus is that He is God. Jesus is forevermore God. A billion, billion years from now, He still will be God. Look at this verse: “Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever and ever and ever.” Jesus will still be King forever more.
A basic truth of our created universe is that things change. All created things change. This universe is going to wear itself out. This universe is going to run down, the second law of thermodynamics tells us that it’s on its way down. It is burning out. Another basic truth is that anything that moves makes friction, and anything that makes friction wears, and anything that wears, disintegrates. And that’s the reason that this universe that is moving and pulsating is wearing down, it is wearing down like a garment that wears out. It’s going to wear out. But Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting. A billion years from now Jesus is the same from age to age;
Click on the link below to hear a message on Jesus Christ, our Superlative Savior.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
OUR SUPERLATIVE SAVIOR-PART I (Hebrews 1:1-3)
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
“You may learn to love Jesus better, but you can never love anything better than Jesus. He is our superlative Savior.”
H. G. Wells, wrote in his outlines of history the 10 greatest men of all history, and number one on his list was Jesus Christ. But, the truth is, that Jesus Christ does not belong on anybody’s list. Why? Because, He is God’s unique, only begotten Son. He is our singular Savior. He is our superior Savior. He is our superlative Savior.
Jesus is unique in comparison to all of the other religious leaders. Buddha was a religious leader. Mohammed was a religious leader. Confucius was a religious leader. But let me tell you what all of these have in common. You can take them out of their teachings and still have their teachings. You can take Buddha out of Buddhism and still have Buddhism. You can take Mohammed out of Islam and still have Islam. You can take Confucius out of Confucianism and still have that system of thought. You just follow the deeds, the teachings, the precepts, the creeds of those particular faiths, and you have it.
But you can’t take Christ out of Christianity and still have Christianity, because Christianity is not a code, not a cause, not a creed, not a church, but Christ. It is a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you tried to take Jesus out of Christianity, that would be like taking the notes out of music. That would be like taking the water out of a well. That would be like taking numbers out of mathematics. If you take Jesus out of Christianity, you don’t have anything left, because Christ and Christianity are the same.
Christianity is not just believing some thing; it is receiving someone. And this is the difference between Christianity and any other religion: Christianity is a vital relationship with a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. He is alive and well and living in me today. If we are to be Christ followers, born again believers in Jesus Christ, then we need to understand that Jesus Christ is our singular Savior, and therefore He is our superlative Savior.
Click on the link below to hear a message on Jesus Christ, our Superlative Savior.
Amen.
Sunday Apr 26, 2020
THE LORD'S PRAYER FOR YOU (John 17:1-13)
Sunday Apr 26, 2020
Sunday Apr 26, 2020
Imagine this, the Son of the Almighty God, the Creator of all things, stood in a street and prayed for you.
John 17:9
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
KJV
When Jesus says, “I pray for them,” He means that He is praying for those who have believed on Him. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then Jesus is praying for you. That doesn’t mean that the Lord does not love the lost. He so loved the world that He came to die on a cross for their sin. But this prayer was about the people who would take the good news of the gospel of Christ to the world.
What did Jesus pray for?
John 17:13
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
KJV
It was for joy that Jesus endured the cross. Jesus wanted that same joy to fill the souls of his saints. His joy could not be full if their cup was not full too. So, he prayed that "they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves."
Click on the link below to hear a message on what Jesus prays for you. He prayed that you might have everlasting life and to have your cup filled with His joy.
Amen.
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE IS HATE (John 15:21-16:26)
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
There are people who deliberately choose to hate anyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate God’s people because we are different. We separate ourselves from the world. We are a people chosen out of the world. We stand for the absolute truths about right and wrong as expressed by God in His Word. We remind them of the sin in their lives that they do not want to give up. The world cannot tolerate such absolute standards of right and wrong, nor, can they tolerate a sovereign God that has the right to tell them what is right and wrong. The world hates God's people simply because they are His people. They hate God. Therefore, they hate His people.
They hate us because they do not know the one, true, almighty God. Unfortunately, the persecution of Christ and his church has come mainly from other religious people. It has been the same in almost all the ages of the Christian era. Just because people are religious, or sincere in their beliefs, or active in their faith, does not prove that they know God. Behind all Christ-rejecting religion is Satan, who masquerades as an angel of light, who is the father of lies, and a deceiver from the beginning.
They hate us because they know Satan as their master. They do not know the almighty God. They use different names for God, but they do not worship the same God that we do. They do not know God, and the persecution of God’s people comes from this ignorance.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how Jesus wanted to prepare us for the hardships to come. To teach us how we are to love others in a world of hate, and how we are to put aside our own feelings of fear, and to share the gospel message of Christ that can give eternal life to those who will accept it.
Amen.
Sunday Dec 22, 2019
TO DO EVEN MORE THAN JESUS - PART II (John 14:12-14)
Sunday Dec 22, 2019
Sunday Dec 22, 2019
Today’s message is part II of a pair of messages on how we, as believers, will do even more than Jesus did. He tells us that this is true in,
John 14:12
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
KJV
Now, that is a statement that will make you step back and ask the Lord, “You expect me to do what? Not only will I equal what You did, but that I will exceed what You did? Really?” The answer to that question is yes.
What are the works that Jesus Christ is talking about? In other words, when Jesus said, "The works that I do shall ye do, and greater works than these," what type of works does He mean? Jesus says it is having everlasting life! Eternal life. That is the greater work. And the greater works that Jesus is talking about, the greater works that we will do, refer to salvation ministry.
The next question is who is going to do this? Is it you or Jesus? The answer is yes and yes. When Jesus says you're going to do greater works than these that I do, the secret is that He will still be doing it, but He will be doing it in us.
How does this come to pass? Jesus says, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name. I will do it.” When we ask in the name of Jesus, we're asking in His name, for His authority. Authority is power. Jesus said, "If you ask anything in my name, friend, I'll do it. And greater works than these that I do will you do." Who's doing it, you or Jesus? Yes! Yes! What are you doing? What is this business about? Why are we here? To get souls saved.
Why did Jesus say, "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it?" Why would Jesus make this promise to us as believers? He says it is so "... that the Father may be glorified in the Son." Jesus made this promise to bring glory to the Father. It ought to be the greatest desire in your life to see others come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Jesus says, "The works that I do will you do, and greater works than these will ye do, that you believe in Me."
Amen.
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
STUBBORN UNBELIEF (John 12:37-50)
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.
Monday Aug 26, 2019
JESUS GIVES LIFE (John 11:28-44)
Monday Aug 26, 2019
Monday Aug 26, 2019
Last week we started a study of the miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ raising Lazarus from the dead. Now, this is a familiar story to all of us. So, if we are going to study this story again, what should we be sure that we learn from it? Jesus defines it for us when He says, “but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” Jesus is telling us that this was an occasion to declare His oneness with his Father at all times and in all situations. It was an opportunity, as God, to convince people that he was all he claimed to be; an occasion to demonstrate the power and effectiveness of prayer, an occasion to make a solemn appeal to those who were His enemies.
In order for this to be true, in order for Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead, then there is something else that we need to know about Lazarus while he was in the grave. We need to know that Lazarus was dead. He wasn’t sick. He didn’t faint. He was really dead. He had been dead for four days and then Christ raised him to walk again.
Click on the link below to hear part 2 of a message that will bring comfort to those who have lost loved ones. Death is not final. The grave is not final. The Bible says that for the believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That loved one of yours is still living, and if they had Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, then they are present with Him in heaven. If you have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you will join them for all of eternity. Death is but a moment. Life with Jesus is eternal.
Amen.
Wednesday Jul 03, 2019
JESUS AS THE GOOD SHEPHERD (John 9:39-10:7)
Wednesday Jul 03, 2019
Wednesday Jul 03, 2019
Where do you feel the safest? At home? That is generally the answer we give to that question, and it is because that is where we spend most of our time, it where we keep most of our possessions, and it is where our loved ones live with us. It is also the reason we feel so emotionally impacted when a robber comes in to violate that safe space. It is not just the things that they take, it is that they remove that feeling of security we feel within the walls of that safe space. Once that feeling of security is violated, you may want to fortify your home, put in better locks, stronger doors, or get a burglar alarm. I know if it happens in my house, my first reaction will be to stand guard at the doorway of my home as the protector of my loved ones who live in that house with me. I believe that is the role God gives the husband, to be the protector of the people that God has put in his life, and I would give my life in order to keep them safe.
Click on the link below to hear a message about that safe place we have in our spiritual lives. That place where we feel protected. Jesus is going to talk about being a good shepherd, one who puts His sheep in a secure place and stands at the door to protect them from those who would come to steal and to rob the flock.
Amen.