The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

THE FAITH THAT CANNOT BE TESTED, CANNOT BE TRUSTED (Genesis 22:1-18)

In today’s message, I want to talk to you about your faith.  The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 16:13 to be strong in faith.  I want us to think about our faith, and I want us to look at our faith. I want us to examine our faith. I want us to test our faith, because, you see, the faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted.

How do you know that your faith is real and strong? Well, would you like to fly on an airplane that had never been tested?  Would you like for it to be built, but never once put to any test?  Would you want to get on it and commit your life to that airplane, and it had never been tested?  I don’t think so, right?  Would you like for a doctor to do surgery on you who went through medical school without a test?  He just got a diploma as a participation trophy?

Do you want to put your faith, and your confidence, in something that hasn’t been tested? Again, the faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted.

If you were to measure faith, how would you measure it? Well, you could measure it with the dimensions of faith. You could measure it by its depth. You could measure it by its height. You could measure it by its length. Or you could measure it by its wideness.  And that is exactly how we are going to measure faith today.  We are going to study how God tells us in His Word how Abraham’s faith was measured.  He is going to tell us how it was qualified.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how our faith is measured by the depth of its devotion, the height of its sacrifice, the length of its obedience, and the wideness of confidence.

Let me ask that the next time you pray to your Heavenly Father, pray these words, “Lord, increase my faith. And, Lord, when the test comes, when you ask of me something—to go somewhere, to give something, to sacrifice something—Lord, help me to obey. May my obedience be quick, intentional, instantaneous, impassioned, intelligent.” You don’t have to think up things to sacrifice. You just have to say, “Lord, all that I am, all that I have, belongs to you.”

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

Amen.

THE BIRTH OF ISAAC (Genesis 20:1 to 21:34)

Today’s message is about spiritual highs and lows.  If you have been a Christ follower for very long, then the mountain top experiences when you feel so close to God, are right there alongside the deep valley experiences when you feel so far from God.  The Bible describes Abraham as a hero of the faith, and I certainly agree with that description.  Some of the things that we have seen Abraham do in our study of the book of Genesis, and some of the things that he will yet do in this book, are truly remarkable examples of a man who is filled with the Spirit of an all-powerful God.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I never like to see my heroes stumble.  I mean, the Lone Ranger never told a lie, he was never mean to people, and he always rescued the girl, and defeated the bad guys.  That is just the way it works, our heroes are not supposed to do the same kind of foolish things that we do, especially twice.

So, when you have the type of expectations that I do for my heroes, chapter 20 of the book of Genesis is a chapter that you would like to just skip over.  That is because Abraham does all of the things we just talked about.  He lies, and he is mean to Hagar and Ishmael.  Worse, he repeats the same sin that he committed when he went down into the land of Egypt and lied concerning Sarah, saying, “She is my sister.” It is the same story, all over again. But in the end, Abraham defeats the bad guy, or the sin that has been in his life, he obeys God’s commands, and he gets the only girl God has wanted for him from the beginning, which is Sarah.

Yet, this story tells the truth about all of us as Christians.  No matter how great we think we are, each time we try to solve our problems using the world’s methods, using our own strength, instead of depending on God, we will fail.  And there is nothing more miserable than a Christian who has failed because he did not depend on God.  The lost see this person as the hypocrite they are, and they want nothing to do with that kind of shallow belief.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how our faith and trust in God is the foundation for living a victorious Christian life.

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

Amen.

GOD'S JUDGEMENT OF PERVASIVE SIN (Genesis 19:1-29)

There are those who believe that you can become a child of God and continue on in sin. God says that is impossible.  You cannot do that. Paul asks the question, 

Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
KJV

The idea that you can be a Christian and go on living in sin, or support and condone the sin of those around you, is a tremendous mistake.  Don’t tell me that the book of Genesis describes a primitive view of God, and that we have a better, more enlightened one today. Don’t argue that, after all, Jesus received sinners.  That is absolutely true, He certainly did, but when He got through with them, He had changed them.  The harlot who came to Him was no longer in that business. When she came to God, she changed.  A tax collector named Matthew came to Jesus, and he gave up that which was crooked when he came to the Lord. If you have come to Christ, you will be changed. 

Many people try to explain that we are living in a new day and that we need to wake up. That is true, we are living in a new day, but it just happens to be the same old sin.  Today, it is the same for us as Christians.  The world has a lot of attractions.  Many people want to have one foot in the world and the other living in God’s will.  But it doesn’t work that way.  In order to become saved, we are commanded to repent of our sins.  The word repent is an expression that always has been given to God’s people as a challenge to turn around, to stop what they are doing.  The word repent can be defined as walking down the road in one direction, stopping, and turning back to go in the opposite direction, never looking or going back the way you were going. This word is much more than just saying you are sorry, it is agreeing with God that what you did was wrong and committing not to do it again.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how God will bring judgement on pervasive sin. As Christians, our love cannot be of the things of this world.  Our home is no longer here on this earth.  We are pilgrims on this earth.  We are here for one purpose only, to bring others to a saving knowledge of Christ.  

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

Amen.

THERE IS NO PROBLEM GOD CANNOT SOLVE (Genesis 17:15-17)

These three verses contain four wonderful, wonderful, truths that you need to learn.  I want you to get these four things about a strong faith emblazoned in your heart, etched upon your consciousness.  I want them to reverberate through your soul, because I want for you what I want for myself, a strong faith.

The first is that Strong Faith Releases the Grace of God. Faith is the key.  It just opens the door and gets you in there where grace is, or it gets grace out here where you are. 

The second is that Strong Faith Relies on The Guarantees Of God.  Strong faith always relies on God’s guarantees. It does not rely on you, on what you wish, or what you want, but on what God has said. 

The third is that Strong Faith Recognizes the Greatness of God.  True faith is rooted in the promise, but not only in the promise, but in the One who promised. And so, if you are to have faith, not only must you have the Word of God, and a word from God, you must also understand the character of the God who gives this Word.

The fourth is that strong faith reveals the glory of God. The greatest way that you can glorify God is to believe Him.  

Click on the play button above to hear a message on the most important part of God’s grace that we can apply to our hearts and lives.  It is the foundational truth that we need to understand that our faith is based on. That truth is that There Is No Problem God Cannot Solve.  You will never have to say that something is too difficult for God to do in your life.  It is that truth that lets the peace of God rest in our hearts, for we have the omnipotent, the omniscient, and the omnipresent, God who can solve any issue, and any problem, that we might face as we serve the loving, living, God of all creation. 

God said to Abraham, “Abraham, I’m going to give you a son.” Abraham was 100 years old. Sarah was 90. It was humanly ridiculous, so much so, that Abraham laughed, and yet he turned, and he believed God.  How did he do it? Well, first of all, he said, “I know God that you want to do it by your sheer grace. And so by faith, I’m going to release that grace.”

Faith releases grace. It relies on God’s Word. It doesn’t look for anything else. It just simply takes the Word of God and gets a word from God. And, thirdly, the faith that relies on God, relies on God because it knows God’s character. It just simply is aware of who God is and what God can do. And, therefore, it just glorifies God. It just simply says, “God, I want to give you the praise. I’m going to give you the glory. I’m not going to stagger in unbelief.”

Now, if you’ll do that, then God will make you a person of strong faith. 

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

Amen.

TO BE STRONG IN FAITH (Genesis 17: 15-17)

Archimedes was a philosopher and physicist, and he said, “If you will give me a lever long enough, if you will give me a fulcrum with something to rest it on, and if you will give me a place to stand, I can move the earth.” He was right.  For us, that lever is faith, that fulcrum is the Word of God, and that place where we stand is in His grace.  With it, not only can we move the earth, but we can move heaven as well, if we learn to be strong in faith.

It is strong faith that releases the grace of God.  Rom. 4:16 says, “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace …” meaning that without faith, you will never know grace, “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure.” 

What is grace? Grace is “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” Grace is God giving us and showing us His great wonderful love. There’s nothing we can do to deserve it, or to earn it.  Grace is the unmerited love and favor of God that is just given to us. 

Now, how can you get in on this unmerited love and favor of God?  Only by faith! If you begin to work for it, if you begin to pay for it, then it is no longer grace.  It is no longer grace. If it is by grace, then by definition, it is no longer works, otherwise work is not work.  And, if it is by work, then by definition of the word work, it is not by grace, otherwise grace is no more grace. This is what the Bible says. You can’t mix grace and works, so the only way that grace can be grace is through faith.  That is the only way that grace can be grace.

Now, it is important to understand that unbelief holds grace prisoner.  If you are an unbeliever, grace will never work in your heart and in your life. The Bible says it is by faith so that it can be by grace. 

Click on the play button above to hear a message on how a strong faith is the key to unlock God’s grace in your life.

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

Amen.

THE PROMISE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (Genesis 17:1-8)

Did you know that the Jews are less than 0.19% of the world’s population? And yet more than twelve percent of all the honors in science, in health, in medicine, in music, in philosophy, and in public life have been garnered by these amazing people. The Nobel Prize is one of the highest prizes that men of learning confer upon one another. In the last fifty years, one-third to one-fourth of the Nobel prizes have been given to these people who only represent 19- hundredths of one percent of the population. Why is this? I believe that God in a very special way has His hand upon these people. They are the people of destiny.

You can study history and find some amazing things. Did you know that it was a Jew that financed Christopher Columbus’s voyage to find this New World? Did you know that on board that ship when Columbus set sail was a Jew and he was the first man to set foot upon these new shores? Did you know that? 

Did you know that a Jew, Hiram Solomon, financed George Washington and the Revolutionary War as we fought for our independence from the British? Did you know that? You don’t realize what an influence these people have had on your life. 

Click on the play button to hear a message on the promise that God makes to Abraham that He is giving to Abraham and his seed, “all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”  I believe that God meant exactly that. I believe the word everlasting means everlasting.  What God is saying here is an iron fist upon history.  The Sovereign God is definitively saying that certain things are going to be done. What God is saying here is His plan to bless you, and to bless me, and to bless the nations of the world. This indeed is a blessing, a promise, that has changed the world, and it will give us understanding if we today will take the Word of God and let it speak to us as we study together.

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

Amen.

ABRAHAM’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (Genesis 15:6 to 16:6)

The story of Abraham gives us an opportunity for God to show us the power of His grace, and the power of His silence.  There are lessons for believers in both of these Biblical truths.  

It is by the power of God’s grace alone that our salvation comes.  Not by the works of man lest he should boast, but by the grace of our Heavenly Father that loves us.  It is the power of God’s grace that comes to us when we believe on the promises of God, when we believe what God has promised to accomplish in us through Jesus Christ.  It is when we believe that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, and then died and rose again, that the power of God’s grace imputes righteousness to us.  

It is by the power of God’s silence that we learn patience; that we learn the value of faith; and we learn to depend on God rather than on our own wits, our own strength, or the things that the world values and believes as natural.  It is the power of God’s silence that creates a test we rarely pass. We fail this test because we want things on our timing, rather than God’s.  One of the hardest lessons we learn as believers is to wait on God’s perfect timing for His will to be accomplished in our lives.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how God accounted Abraham as righteous.  Abraham believed God. He just accepted what God said, and he believed God. That is the way each of us get saved.  You must believe that God has done something for you, that Christ died for you and rose again. It is then that God will declare you righteous by simply accepting Christ.

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

Amen.

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM (Genesis11:10 to 12:8)

Chapters 11 and 12 of the Book of Genesis mark an important turning point in the Scriptures.  Up to this point, the story has been that of the whole Adamic race.  There has been neither Jew nor Gentile.  All have been one in “the first Adam.”  

From this point forward in the Scriptures, the human race must be seen as a great river from which God, in the call of Abraham, and the creation of the nation of Israel, draws off a small stream through which He may at last purify the great river itself.  Israel is the tool through which God chose to bring a Savior to the world.  It is important for us to note that neither Abraham, nor Israel, were perfect, they didn’t do anything special to deserve this.  In fact, as we will see today, Abraham was far from perfect.  But, when God spoke to him, Abraham responded, and that is exactly what God was looking for.  It was by grace that God chose Abraham, and the nation Israel, to bring revelation and salvation to the world.  It was through the faith of Abraham that the nation Israel would be called.

Click on the play button to hear a message on how our obedience to God comes after we have stopped telling God what we want to do, and listen to what He wants us to do.  Let me illustrate that with a question, how much of your prayer time do you spend telling God what you want, rather than being quiet and listening to what He wants to tell you?  That is a measure of how much you harken/obey God, for you cannot obey God until you know what He wants you to do.  Abraham was obedient to God because he listened, and then transformed what he heard into action.

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

Amen.

THE RISE AND FALL OF BABYLON (Genesis 11:1-9)

In today’s message we are going to learn something about that mighty city called Babylon, which symbolically, and cryptically, and prophetically, stands for the consummation and the distillation of all evil.  And pay attention, because “The Rise and Fall of Babylon” is not something that just happened in the dark, musty past, or something that’s going to happen way off yonder in the future. It deals with realities that we are facing every day. And we’re going to find out something about the person and work of the devil as we study here in Genesis chapters 10 and 11.  We are going to learn about this wicked city of Babylon, which was both the cradle and the grave of all false religion, and the devil’s kingdom.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how Babylon is destined to fall. Just as this ancient tower of Babel crumpled so long ago, we find that the final full-blown Babylon is coming down; it is crashing down. And I want to tell you something: You may not have ever realized this, but the first time that the word “alleluia” is used in all the New Testament is after Babylon falls. You won’t find the word “alleluia” used any other time. But it is after Babylon falls that the “Alleluia Chorus” begins. 

Rev 19:1-3
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
KJV

Rev 19:6
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
KJV

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

Amen.

 

THE FLOOD (Genesis 6:17 to 8:5)

God could have destroyed all mankind by any method He chose, He could have used the sword of an angel, as He did when He destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians, and the camp of the Assyrians.  If God had chosen that as His method, then there would only have needed to be a mark set upon Noah and his family for their preservation. 

But God chose to do it by a flood of waters, which would drown the whole world.  God chooses the rod with which he will correct us, His children, just as he chooses the sword with which he will cut off his enemies.  Notice also that this was not an accident, or the result of global warming, God is in control, He chose the method of judgment.  

Then, notice the expression, “I, even I, do bring a flood.” God is saying, “I am infinite in power, and therefore, I can do it.  I am infinite in justice, and therefore, I will do it.”  These are powerful words that speak of the deity of God and the sovereign right He has to condemn and judge all of creation.  God created man, therefore, He has the sovereign right to destroy man.

Yet “the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou.”  God was already in the ark.  Salvation was simply the shutting in of all the saved with Him.  What it meant for Noah to be “in the ark” with God is what it means today for the believer to be “in Christ.”  It means that between the saved and the storm were the judgment proof timbers of the ark.  It also means that between the believer and God’s wrath is Christ.  Christ bears the storm for all those who now find their safety in Him.

Noah and his family had to take one step of faith.  They had to make a total commitment of themselves to the salvation that had been procured for them at the cost of God’s only Son’s life.  Apart from that act, salvation would have been offered in vain.  

This invitation is extended by God to man.  It is extended to everybody, not just a select few.  It urges man to avail himself of the perfect provision God has made for his preservation.  The story of the flood tells us that this invitation of God is also given in a time of overwhelming judgment and doom.

Click on the play button to hear a message on the Flood, and where God said Come! And Noah responded by saying “Just as I am, I come.”  

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

Amen.