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Each week a new verse-by-verse Bible study podcast given in expository style. Join us and see the Bible come alive as we study the truths that God‘s Word has for us.
Episodes
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
I want you to take God’s Word and hold your Bible in your hand. Now, I want to tell you there is no book like the Bible. None whatsoever. The book that you hold in your hand is one book, and yet it is sixty-six books. There are thirty-nine books in the Old Testament. There are twenty-seven in the New Testament. They were written over a period of about 1,500 years by at least forty different authors in three different languages, people from all backgrounds and walks of life. But when you bring them together, they don’t make sixty-six books; they make one book, one book that is bound together.
This book has one hero, His name is Jesus. It has one villain, he is the devil. It has one theme, it is salvation. It has one purpose, the glory of God. And so, if you read any verse in the Bible, standing somewhere in the shadows, you’re going to find the Lord Jesus, and that’s what we’re going to see today as we continue to look in the life of the man named Abraham. We are going to look back in history, centuries before Jesus Christ was born upon this earth, and we’re going to find a wonderful depiction of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, God gave illustrations, types, prophecies, figures of that which is to come in the New Testament. It is one of the great confirmations of the inspiration of the Scripture, when you see way back here centuries before Jesus Christ was even born that God gives figures and types and prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, not only is it a confirmation of the inspiration of the Scriptures, but, correspondingly, it is a confirmation of the deity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as we see Him pictured there, tucked away in the Old Testament.
Click on the link below to hear a message on if God was willing to give Jesus up freely for us all, how shall He not also freely give us all things? He is the God who provides.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul.” How would you like to have great faith? If you are a Christ follower, then I trust that you do. When you came to Jesus Christ, God enrolled you in the School of Faith. Life is the classroom, the Bible is the textbook, the prophets and the apostles are the professors, and Abraham would have to be the Dean in the School of Faith.
Our message today is on the dynamic life of faith that Abraham led. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” This means that if you want to please God, then you must have faith. If you please God, then it doesn’t matter whom you displease, and if you displease God, then it doesn’t matter whom you please. There is no way to please God without faith.
Do you want to serve God? Then, your chief duty is to believe Him. The supreme evil is unbelief. Unbelief is the source of all other sins. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden because they did not believe the Word of God that had been given to them. The Christian life, according to Hebrews 10:38, is to be lived by faith. The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.”
Now, I am telling you as clearly as I can that without faith it is impossible to please God. You will never, ever, succeed in your Christian life without believing God. Not just in God, but God’s Word collectively in the Bible, and God’s Word that He has given personally to you.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how to have a dynamic life of faith that pleases God.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday May 22, 2022
Sunday May 22, 2022
When you open the Word of God, Jesus steps out. It is a living book. It presents a living person. Jesus Christ is alive and well, and He says, “… the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” The Bible is alive!
The Bible says that the gospel is a saber of life unto life, or death unto death. It is the sword of God. It is quick. It is powerful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword.
Heb 4:12
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
KJV
This says that the Bible is “quick.” Now that word quick means alive, but it also means that it is something that continues to go on. It will never die. This book, the Word of God, will live through the ages. It cannot die. It is alive, and it is deathless. It is the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.
It’s the Word that the body of Christ, the church of believers, is built on. And in this day, when everything that’s not nailed down is coming loose, and the devil is pulling nails out as fast as he can, you had better build your life on the Word of God.
Click on the link below to hear a message that tells us that there is no way possible that you are going to be a growing Christian if you neglect the one book that God has provided to give you energy, power, sustenance, and strength, wisdom, knowledge, and faith; and that book is, the Word of God. If you do not spend time daily in the Word of God, then you cannot lead a victorious Christian life.
Amen.
Sunday May 15, 2022
Sunday May 15, 2022
God’s favorite characterization of His Book is the phrase, “The Word of God.” God’s favorite title for the Bible is the Word of God. Did you know that nowhere in the Bible will you find that God calls this book “The Bible?” Now, I am not saying that the Bible is not an appropriate title for this book, because it is. It recognized the world over as God’s book. Yet, it is not what the Bible calls itself. Over and over and over again you can find where the Bible calls itself the Word of God.
Now, that’s very important because when it is the Word of God, then it is what? God speaking. Now, if it is God speaking, then we have to pay attention to it. You see, God gave the same name to His own dear Son. Jesus Christ is called the same thing that the Bible is called. Jesus is called the Word of God. For example, in Revelation 19, verse 13, speaking of Jesus when he comes again:
Rev 19:13
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
KJV
Now, that’s also very important because the character of both are linked together. The Bible is called the Word of God; Jesus Christ is called the Word of God. One is the written word; the other is the living word. The Bible is the Word of the Lord, and Jesus is the Lord of the Word. And so, the living word, Jesus, honors the written word. The written word, the Bible, presents the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Click on the link below to hear a message that tells us there is no way possible that you are going to be a growing Christian if you neglect the one book that God has provided to give you energy, power, sustenance, and strength, wisdom, knowledge, and faith; and that book is, the Word of God. If you do not spend time daily in the Word of God, then you cannot lead a victorious Christian life.
Amen.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church in Wichita, KS.
Sunday Jan 09, 2022
Sunday Jan 09, 2022
Our message today is on the subject of truth. Now, the idea of real truth is something that is an often-discussed issue in our society, and everybody seems to think they can subscribe to their own version of truth. The idea of God, as our Creator, having the sovereign right to determine the absolute truths that govern our world, is certainly rejected by the majority of our society.
We have a generation today that does not know how to differentiate between truth and facts. Now facts deal with knowledge, and knowledge may double, but truth, never. If it is new, it’s not true. Truth is settled in eternity.
Prov 23:23
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
KJV
So, we have substituted facts for truth. Not that facts in themselves are wrong. Facts are stubborn things. But there is a difference in acquiring facts and learning truth. We’re drowning in facts. What’s the difference between facts and truth? Facts are like a recipe; truth is the meal. When you digest the truth, it will change your life.
Now, the Bible says, “Buy the truth, and sell it not.” When the child of God looks into the Word of God, and sees the Son of God, and is changed by the Spirit of God into the image of God, for the glory of God, I believe he has learned the truth of God.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how to apply God’s truth in your life, and how that truth will set you free.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 22, 2021
Sunday Aug 22, 2021
HOW TO APPLY GOD’S WISDOM (PROVERBS 9:1-12)
In today’s world, YouTube is a source of information of just about anything you want to know. The problem is that 95% of it is done by people who think a lot more highly of themselves than they should. In fact, most of it is just useless information. If you are looking for the truth, it takes a lot of work to sort the wheat from the chaff, just to find a simple nugget of man’s wisdom. In fact, most times I walk away without an answer to my question.
However, my experience with the Bible, which is God’s Wisdom, has been quite different. The Bible is the bountiful table that Wisdom spreads. I find more help, insight, and instruction, and more practical, reliable, down-to-earth counsel in a half-dozen verses of the Word of God than in all the videos that can be found on YouTube put together. I never sit down to Wisdom’s table and come away feeling empty.
Wisdom and knowledge are by nature cumulative. We learn by adding to what we already know. For example, as a child we begin by learning the alphabet. Then we learn to recognize and pronounce simple words. After that we use complex words. We add words to our vocabulary. We put sentences together and learn laws of grammar. We learn to write and compose paragraphs.
In mathematics we learn to count, to add up simple sums, and then to figure more complex sums. We learn how to subtract, how to multiply, and how to divide. We learn how to handle fractions, decimals, and square roots. We go on to geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. Moreover, we learn from our mistakes. When a teacher marks answers as being wrong, we do not just shrug our shoulders; we rework the problems until we get them right.
People who refuse to learn from their mistakes not only continue to make the same mistakes; they compound them. People who are wise, accept instruction and increase in learning. They find out where they went wrong, what they did wrong, and why. The same principles that enable us to add to our knowledge in the secular world, enables us to add to our Wisdom when it comes to living the life that God wants us to live. We continue to grow in God’s Wisdom as we live a life of faith in Jesus Christ. We add to that Wisdom as we suffer through tragedy and God responds to our needs. We add even more to that knowledge as we study the Word of God. We choose to accept God’s Wisdom.
How do we apply God’s Wisdom in our lives? We hear Wisdom’s call. We receive God’s Wisdom into our hearts and apply it to every decision that we make, and we share that wisdom with those who the Holy Spirit leads us to.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how we apply God’s Wisdom to our lives.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 08, 2021
Sunday Aug 08, 2021
God’s Wisdom is available to us through the words that we find in the Bible, and the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit as He helps us to interpret God’s Words and apply them to our lives. God’s Wisdom is not hard to find. It cries out to us in every sermon given by a preacher who loves the Lord and is anointed by the Holy Spirit to teach God’s Word. But the most important place we hear God’s Wisdom is when we let His Word, the God-breathed, divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, and wholly dependable Word of God, speak to us and apply it to our lives.
There is no other book available to man that holds the words of eternal life. The Bible is unique because it contains a distillation of the wisdom of God concerning the children of men. Such a book is a mystery to most because they are spiritually blind and deaf. Yet, the meaning of these words is available to anyone. There is no secret club that you must join. No school tuition that must be paid. God has promised to send His Spirit to speak to those who wish to learn who God is, what He has done for them, and then make Him their Lord and Savior.
John 16:13
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
KJV
When a person makes Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior, then the Holy Spirit of God will come and live in the heart of that person. It is then, that the person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit has the capacity to understand the Word of God. This is the Wisdom that we can apply in our lives, and we know that it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Prov 8:17
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
KJV
This is one of the most profound and comforting messages in the Bible. Right here in God’s Word, He promises that He “loves them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” This says, if we love God, and we seek His wisdom, then we have the promise of the Word of God that we will find Him.
The wisdom of God is seen in creation—and in redemption too. Before time began, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit planned both creation and redemption.
In the wisdom of God, creation was to be the stage on which God would display His power.
Rom 1:20
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
KJV
In the wisdom of God, redemption was to be the stage on which God would display His love.
Eph 2:4-6
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
KJV
Click on the link below to hear a message on how we see the majesty of God’s Wisdom in creation and redemption.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 01, 2021
Sunday Aug 01, 2021
Our message today is about the characteristics of God’s Wisdom. The things about God’s Wisdom that makes it so beneficial and good for our lives.
During the week as I work on these messages, I sit in an office at home that is mostly quiet. My wife doesn’t make much noise, and there are no kids living with us anymore to make a racket. The only real noisemakers are our dogs, and one in particular, that cannot stand to have people walking up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. He especially can’t stand it when a package is delivered to the front door. So, for most of the time that I am studying, it is real quiet. Sometimes too quiet and I will turn on a selection of piano solos of hymns in the background to give a little bit of noise to focus my mind.
I have learned that most of us can operate at two levels of thought, one of direct focus, and another in the background. For example, most of us can have an instructor behind us walking us through how to do something while we concentrate on the task at hand. However, if a third person tries to talk at the same time, we cannot manage it. For me, I can be focused on studying and composing the lessons with God speaking as my instructor, but in the background, the activity of the day wants to intrude on my mind and distract me. So, I will play a selection of piano solos of the old hymns that I grew up with and love so much. I don’t have to concentrate on them because I know them so well, and they don’t distract me, but they do help to shut out the events of the day that are trying to distract and take over my mind. It is like having God speaking to me through His word and His music at that same time. It fills up my two levels of thought and I can study.
Now, I study very differently than how my father did. He used books and hand wrote everything. I do all of my work on a computer. I hand write very little. All of my notes are on the computer. I have 26 versions of the Bible on the computer. I have all of my reference material, commentaries, inter-linear Bibles, sermons, Greek and Hebrew translations on the computer. They are all available to me at the touch of a button. Yet, that same computer puts at my disposal all the news of the day, entertainment, and connection with my friends and family via the airwaves and the internet. All in a machine that I work on in my quiet office, in my quiet home. Often the only sound is the clicking of the keys as I type.
It is all available to me, but as I type my lessons, I’m not even aware that all of that communication and entertainment is there. If the music gets too loud or distracting, I can turn the volume down, or up, or even off.
Yet, I also have a different kind of receiver in my room. The highest and holiest wisdom is as close as that computer, but it is not on that computer. This different receiver sits on a table right next to me and it is my old Bible. The one my parents gave to me 40 years ago as a graduation gift. It is still very special to me. The Bibles on my computer are just study tools, there is nothing special about them, I never use them to really open my mind to God. However, there is just something special about being able to reach out my hand and take up that Book of books, turn its pages, and open my heart and mind to the words of the Holy Spirit. The wisdom of the Word—the revealed and inspired wisdom of the living God—is right there in my room. God’s Wisdom is never farther away than that Book. It calls to each of us. It says, “Unto you, O men, I call.” God speaks to me when I listen to the words found in His book and apply them to my heart.
God’s Wisdom says that “All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.” All the words of the God’s book are inspired by God, they are true, righteous, and nothing twisted can be found in them. We may not understand all of the Bible, and we may not always interpret it properly. Nevertheless, every word of the Bible is God-breathed, divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, and wholly dependable. All of God’s words are righteous. All of God’s words are right. We may not like them, and we may not want to obey them, but they are right.
The Scriptures contain unfathomable depths. How could it be otherwise when the words are those of an infinite God? A man can study the Bible all his life and still feel he has but touched the fringe of Inspiration’s garment. At the same time a little child can read and understand the Bible. It is that simple.
There is enough truth in the Word of God to save a soul and truth enough to occupy the sharpest mind for a lifetime.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the characteristics of God’s Word.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 14, 2021
Sunday Mar 14, 2021
One of the luxuries of being a seasoned citizen is that we can look back on the choices we have made in our lives and see how our decisions impacted our lives for the better, or the worse. If you are like me, I have made my share of poor decisions, and a few really good ones. The wisdom to choose right from wrong, good from evil, and truth from lies, is something that each of us desperately need in our lives. The Bible describes this as choosing between light and darkness.
John 1:5
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
KJV
Notice what John says here about the light that shines in the darkness, he says, the darkness comprehended it not. Now, other Bible translations render this phrase in various ways: “the darkness has not overcome it,” “has not put it out,” or “can never extinguish it.”
Whatever the exact words, the message is the same. Jesus Christ stands as the unconquered Ruler of time and eternity, and all of history is a battle between light and darkness. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of light, and Satan’s kingdom is a kingdom of darkness.
But, and this is important for us to understand, don’t ever get the idea that the kingdom of darkness is somehow as strong as the kingdom of light. Satan is a formidable foe, but the grand truth is that darkness is totally powerless against the light.
Satan’s darkness is not the opposite of God’s light, but the absence of it. A lost person’s heart does not know God’s light, because it is filled with nothing but darkness. God’s light is absent from the lost person’s heart. A believer’s heart has a light within it that no lost person can ever know. A believer has the light of the Holy Spirit of God within them, and no amount of darkness can ever overcome that light.
Have you ever been in a room or place where the darkness is just so great that you can almost feel it? It oppresses you, it weighs down on you. For example, have you ever walked in a cemetery on a dark moonless night and felt the darkness surround you?
We once took a tour of Fantastic Caverns in Missouri, and at one point in the tour, the guide shuts off the lights and you are surrounded by complete darkness. They do this, because in a cave underground, you can learn what real darkness is. Yet the simple light of a candle can dispel even the worst darkness, and no amount of darkness can overpower that candle. Satan and his kingdom must bow before God and the majesty of His light. When God’s light comes, Satan’s darkness must go.
It also means that there is only one way to get rid of Satan’s darkness; the light of the Word of God. We have victory in Jesus because no force on the earth, or below the earth, can stand against the mighty majesty of God’s light. When our lives are filled with sin, it is the light of the Word of God that will give you victory over that sin in your life. In fact, it is the only light that will give you victory over Satan and sin. You cannot live the Christian life without the power and light of the Holy Spirit in your heart. The concepts of God’s wisdom and God’s light are intertwined. They are both based on the Word of God, and they both come from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. But, most importantly, they enable us to determine right from wrong, good from evil, and truth from lies.
Click on the link below to hear a message about how God’s wisdom, God’s light, can deliver us from evil. For it is when we acquire wisdom, that we will have light in darkness.
Amen.
Sunday Jan 10, 2021
Sunday Jan 10, 2021
Whenever I get ready to teach, or study, a book of the Bible, and I know that I am going to be spending a lot of time in it, I try to get in my mind why God put this book in the Bible and what it is that He wants me to learn from it. The Bible is such a marvelous book. It is so simple that a child can learn about God’s love for them, and it is so deep that a person can spend their entire life plumbing it depths and barely get below the surface. I love the Word of God, because it allows me to know the mind of God, and when I know the mind of God, I know the love of God. There is nothing that I value more than the love that God has for me. It sustains me, it motivates me, it guides me, and it makes me the person that I am, a servant of God.
I firmly believe that God gave us His Word so that we might know who He is, what He has done for us, and as a result, that we might live for Him. It is His Word that answers all of the questions that we have in this life. It is His Word that grounds me in the absolute truths about right and wrong, it establishes what good and evil are, light from dark, and it gives me the keys to living a victorious Christian life.
So, what is it that God wants us to know from the book of Proverbs? Why did God give us this very unusual book? When you look at the book of Proverbs, you will find it to be an interesting collection of short, concise and forcefully expressive sayings. Unlike our studies of the gospel of John, and the life of David, Proverbs does not even tell a story, or a series of stories. We won’t find David slaying Goliath with five smooth stones, and we won’t find Jesus healing the sick and feeding the five thousand. As a result, you may not consider the Book of Proverbs as a very thrilling story, but it is. You also may want to think of the Book of Proverbs like a big collection of sayings that you might find in a Chinese cookie, but it is not.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what God wants you to know about the book of Proverbs, and how it can give you the answers to many of your questions about life.
Amen.