The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

TO DO EVEN MORE THAN JESUS - PART II (John 14:12-14)

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.

STUBBORN UNBELIEF (John 12:37-50)

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.

JESUS GIVES LIFE (John 11:28-44)

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.

JESUS AS THE GOOD SHEPHERD (John 9:39-10:7)

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.

TO BE BORN BLIND (John 8:54 to 9:7)

Most of us who have the ability to see, take that ability for granted. It is like walking, or hearing, or even breathing, it is something you consciously do every day. But you don’t think about doing it, or what it would be like to not be able to see, until something happens that puts our eyesight in jeopardy. Those who were able to see for a period of their lives, and then lost their sight, feel the loss of that sight every day, but they have their memories of what things looked like. Someone who is born blind, and has never been able to see at all, has no such memories. The colors of a sunset, the faces of loved ones, and the stars in the sky are things they must imagine from the descriptions others give them. Yet, they have no reference to compare it to, they have only the words that they hear. How do you describe the colors of a sunset to someone who has never seen any color at all?

Yet, what would happen if someone came up to that blind person and said, I can give you sight, I can let you see what you have been missing? Would that person who could not see, choose to see, or would they be so used to living the way they had been, that they would choose not to see? Would they embrace the light, or would they choose to stay in the darkness? You say, “But of course they would choose to see the light, why would they choose to stay in the darkness?” Well, that is indeed the question, isn’t it?

John 3:19-21
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.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
KJV

Click on the link below to hear a message about two different kinds of people who were born blind. One man who was born physically blind, and another group of people who were born spiritually blind. One chose the light, the other chose the darkness.

Amen.

THE FEAST OF THE TABERNACLES (John 7:25-44)

This is a message about the power of God, the obedience of our Lord to the will of His Father, and to the decisions that we must make about who Jesus is in our lives. No other decision that we make is as important as the one to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. To make Him our Master, and to accept the work of salvation that He has completed for us.

Click on the link below to hear a message about Jesus Christ forcing people to choose who He was, a good man, a prophet, or the Promised Messiah and the Son of God.

Amen.

A DECISION ABOUT JESUS (John 7:1-24)

At some point in our lives, each of us has to make a decision about who Jesus Christ is to us, personally. Is He the Son of God and our Savior, or just a prophet, a teacher, or a good man? Each of us comes to this decision from different viewpoints and different life experiences. Yet, we must all ultimately answer the same question, who will Jesus Christ be in my life? My Savior, or just a figure in history? Will He be someone I give my life to, or someone I reject, claiming my life as my own?

Our eternal destiny, either heaven or hell, will be decided by the decision we make about Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters. Not the religion we choose. Not the church we attend. Not the good things that we have done in our lives, or will do in the future. Not the bad things that we have done in our lives, or will do in the future. Not murder, not adultery, not prostitution, not lying, not suicide. Other than rejecting Christ, the Bible does not state an unpardonable sin that prevents you from being saved, or forces you to lose your salvation. You will not find a verse in the Bible that says in order to be saved you must believe on Jesus and you must not have done this particular sin at any time in your life. What the Bible does say is:

John 5:24
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
KJV

The one requirement for salvation and eternal life is that you make a true heart trusting decision to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, truly repent of your sins, and accept that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. That’s it. Nothing else matters. To say one sin is greater than another sin is to not understand the perfect holiness of God. Any sin, from the smallest to the worst, must be judged and condemned by a Holy God. Any sin that you commit demands that the penalty for that sin be paid, and the penalty is the same for all sin, an eternity in Hell. The only question is who will pay the penalty for that sin. Jesus Christ as your Savior, or you when you decide to reject Jesus.

Click on the link to hear a message on how the nation of Israel, and most of the people, rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah. They made their choice about who Jesus was in their lives, and they are spending an eternity in hell as a result of that decision. The apostle Paul tells us to examine ourselves to determine if we are in the faith. There is no more important decision that you will make at any time in your life than who Jesus is to you. Choose wisely. Choose life.

Amen.

THERE IS WONDER WORKING POWER IN THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF THE LAMB (John 6:63)

I know a lot of Christian people who are living painful lives because they have let toxins build up in their lives. They have let the sins of worry, envy, jealousy, fear, pride, bitterness, and doubt, build up in their lives. They build up more and more of these toxins in their lives. If you don't allow the blood of Christ to be constantly cleansing you, then you are going to be living a life of pain. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Now, you may be saved and on your way to heaven, but you're miserable, you're miserable because you are not letting the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse you, and so you're just miserable. You see, not only is there the constant provision of the blood, there is the cleansing property of the blood. It is the body’s blood that cleanses us in the physical world, and it is the blood of Christ that cleanses us in the spiritual world.

This is the reason that many Christians are failing. They are not living in victory because while they understand the saving blood, they have never understood that everything that I need to live the Christian life is in Jesus.

Click on the link below and you will hear a message on how the wonder-working power of the precious blood of the Lamb can give you victory as you walk with Christ. Listen as God tells us in His Word that Anything Jesus has overcome, we can overcome, and Everything that I need to live the Christian life is in Jesus, and Jesus is already in me.

There is power, wonder-working power, in the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

THERE IS LIFE IN THE BLOOD (John 6:52-53)

Are you in the secret service? I know a lot of Christians who are in the secret service. Now, they may be saved, but you would never know it by looking at them and the way they talk, the way they walk, the way they act, and the way they live. They do not have that power that God wants them to have. The life of Jesus Christ is not evidenced in them, and the difference is that they have never discovered the power of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave Himself for us in order that He might give Himself to us. He wants to share the power and life that is in His blood with us.

This is why we are failing to walk victoriously in Christ. We can be going to heaven, and we can thank God for the shed blood, which is saving blood, but there is more to it. He gave Himself for us, that He might give Himself to us, that we may eat of His flesh, and drink of His blood. Jesus is saying that we are to do this so His life might be in you.

Click on the link below to hear a message on what it means to find life in the blood of Jesus. Just as in my human body everything that my body needs to exist is delivered to me by my blood, so everything I need to live the victorious Christian life is in Jesus. There is life, and there is power, in the blood. The life of Christ is in that blood, life everlasting, and there is power in that blood for you and me to walk victoriously in our work for the Lord.

Amen.

JESUS FEEDS YOUR DEEPEST HUNGER (John 6:1-14)

Our message today is about the miracle where Jesus fed the 5,000 using just five loaves of bread and two little fishes. We will see that Jesus performed a miracle, and it was a miracle of feeding physical bodies. However, if all you learn from this message is that Jesus can miraculously feed 5,000 people with five loaves and a few fishes, then you have missed the whole point of the message God has for us today. What I want you to do as we talk about this miracle is to look beyond the miracle and on to Jesus. Jesus did not come to this earth as God incarnate in man in order to feed you physically. Jesus did not come to heal you physically. Jesus did not come to solve all of your physical, material, problems. He is a Savior. He came to save you from sin, and you need to look beyond these miracles and on to Jesus. We need to believe in miracles, but trust in Jesus.

Down in your heart, down in the deepest part of your being, there is a hunger that only God can satisfy. Pascal once said, "In every man's heart there is a God-shaped vacuum that God alone can fill through His Son Jesus Christ." And that is the hunger that I want to talk to you about today, not the physical hunger that we have.

Click on the link below and learn how there is never a problem too big for Jesus to solve. In every problem you face, God already knows about the problem and He has a plan to solve it. So many times, we have a problem in our lives that we're trying to solve. We are using all of our strength, at least so we think, but there is a heavenly Father who is ready to help us with His strength in order to solve our problem. The moral of the story is, there is never a problem too big for Jesus to solve, you just need to ask Him.

Amen.