The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

THE VIAL JUDGMENTS (Revelation 16:1-21)

We have come to the time in our study for the last of the three judgments to be poured out upon the world. We have studied the seal judgments, and we have studied the trumpet judgments. Both were terrible in their own right. Now, it is time for the vial judgments.

The stage for the vial judgments has been set up by events that have occurred in chapter after chapter in this Book of Revelation. The storm clouds have been gathering. We are studying the Tribulation Period in the Book of Revelation. This is a period that occurs after the church has been raptured out to meet the Lord in the air. The church, the body of believers will not be on the earth as this set of judgements take place. The events that we will study today, will likely occur in the last month or so of the seven-year Tribulation Period. The Antichrist will be in full control of the world. His False Prophet will be demanding that everyone shall worship the Antichrist, and take His mark, or face immediate execution. Millions will be saved during the Tribulation period, and as a consequence of their choice to serve Jesus Christ and reject the Antichrist, those same millions will face torture, persecution, and death.

The full wrath of God is about to come upon the earth, and its remaining inhabitants, including the unholy trinity, the devil, the beast, and the false prophet. A world ruined by man, and a world ruled by Satan, has been described for us. Now the time has come for the world to be rescued by God.

As believers, this is the day of the Lord that we have prayed for. The secret of our victory is the wrath of God. Apart from the wrath of God, apart from the righteous judgment of God, there can be no ultimate victory. Sin must be dealt with. This is what victory in Jesus is to look like. The Lord Jesus will deal with the sin of man, and the sin of Satan and his demons.

This is the victory that we praise our Lord for. Our victory comes from three things, the Word of God, the redeeming works of God, and the ensuing wrath of God. We are to celebrate the wrath of God, because it means that we have victory in Jesus Christ.

Amen.

GAINING VICTORY IN JESUS (Revelation 15:3-8)

Let me ask you a question, have you ever considered celebrating the wrath of God?

Chapter 15 of the Book of Revelation talks about the tribulation saints standing in victory on the crystal sea of glass, or the Word of God, and celebrating the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can learn three principles about our victory in Jesus Christ from these Tribulation saints, and how to celebrate that victory. We are studying the Tribulations saints and the events that occur during that Tribulation Period, but there is much that we can learn from this set of verses and apply to our lives today.

Have you ever looked at the sin of those around you and asked the question, Where is the wrath of God? Doesn’t God promise to punish sin? Yet, when you look at rape, child abuse, blasphemy, sexual perversion of all kinds, and the horror of terrorism, we are all tempted to ask, Where is God? And where is His wrath?

The answer to the question of where is God? Is, He is on His throne. The answer to the question of where is God’s wrath? John tells us “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?... for thy judgments are made manifest.” God’s judgements are God’s wrath for sin. John says that God’s judgment, or wrath, is made manifest, or visible, for all to see. One thing the Bible teaches us for certain is that all sin will be punished. Your sin will be punished. My sin will be punished. Every sin, whether it be that of a lost person, or a saved, will be punished. The only question is, who will bear that punishment? Every sin will be either pardoned by Christ, or punished in hell, but it will never be overlooked. Nobody’s sin is ever overlooked. All sin is dealt with.

Don't ever forget that the secret of our victory is the wrath of God. Apart from the wrath of God, apart from the righteous judgment of God, there can be no ultimate victory. Sin must be dealt with. We celebrate the Wrath of God, because we know that God will deal with all sin. God is indeed a loving God, but God is also a just God. God will deal with all sin. As believers, our victory comes from three things, the Word of God, the redeeming works of God, and the righteous wrath of God.

Amen.

GATHERING CLOUDS (Revelation 14:14-15:2)

Without a doubt, I praise the Holy name of God that, during the period that I have been alive on this earth, there may have been wars, there may have been rumors of wars, but there has not been a major world war to endure the tragedy of on a global scale. There was the Vietnam war, the Cold war, Israel’s Six-day war, the battle of Yom Kippur, The Falkland Islands, the Iraq wars, and the war on Terror, just to name a few. Each of these was terrible in its human toll of death and injury. Now, make no mistake about it, when you are a soldier fighting, and your friends are dying around you, it doesn’t matter if the war you are in is called a world war, a police action, a skirmish, or a conflict, it is horrible, it is tragic, and I am glad we have soldiers willing to fight these wars.

But the scale of deaths in a global conflict is staggering. If we look at WWII, just as an example, depending on where you look, they estimate the total deaths due to the conflict as anywhere from 35 million to 96 million people. All of these other wars that I mentioned earlier pale in comparison to the deaths and casualties that occurred during WWII.

Yet, one thing is consistent no matter the size of the conflict, each of these wars had a period at the beginning where the storms clouds of war were gathering. People, rulers, and nations, made decisions that either cast their country into war, or turned toward peace. We have many of those events happening in our world today. North Korea and Iran are two that come to mind. Either of these countries could throw the world into a major war based on the decisions their rulers make.

Chapter 14 of the Book of Revelation tells us of a turning point in Satan’s worldwide empire that will exist during the Tribulation Period. It describes that from this point on in our study, God is going to start intervening in the events of the world until it reaches a point where Satan is defeated, the world is judged, and those who have rejected the gospel message of Christ will be cast into the Lake of Fire with Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. This chapter tells us that the storm clouds of a truly epic war, unlike anything that mankind has seen before, is about to become a reality. Decisions are being made, and eternal destinies are being decided.

Click on the link below to hear a message about the coming of the Day of the Lord. The storm clouds are gathering as God moves toward judging the evil of the world at the Battle of Armageddon.

Amen.

THE CHOICE THAT DETERMINES YOUR DESTINY (Revelation 14:4-13)

Chapter 14 of the Book of Revelation is a chapter of contrasts. It contrasts the Lamb and the beast, earth and heaven, and the harvest of the doomed and the harvest of the saved. It contrasts the decisions that determine a person’s eternal destiny. It also contrasts those who follow the Lamb, and those who are bossed by the beast. It is this contrast that we are studying today, and it is from understanding the characteristics of both of these groups that we can learn a great deal from to apply to our lives today. The truth is that while this chapter discusses events in the Tribulation Period, the choice that is described here, is the same choice that man has been faced with since Creation. We must choose to follow Christ, or, willingly or not, we choose to follow Satan, and it is that choice which determines our eternal destiny.

When you die, you are either going to die in the Lord, or out of the Lord. So, the question is, if you died today, would you die in the Lord, or would you die out of the Lord? If you die in the Lord, of course, God says, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. On the other hand, if you die outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, what a curse, what a sorrow, what a tragedy it would be for you. Another question to consider is, if you were to die today, where would you be? In other words, if you get to where you are headed, where will you be? Five minutes from now you may be in heaven, or you may be in hell. These are the questions that we will be asking today as we study the decisions of the living and the destiny of the dead.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the choice that will determine your eternal destiny. Is it Heaven or Hell? We will answer the question of whether Hell is real, or is it symbolic? How long will you stay in Hell? We will also discuss what your loved ones are doing in heaven today.

Amen.

THE CHARACTER OF THE 144,000 (Revelation 14:1-4)

I’ll bet this will come as a surprise to you, but, it is a Biblical truth that one day you are going to die. One day I am going to die.

Heb 9:27
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
KJV

The only intervening factor that might keep us from dying, is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And before we die, there is a choice to be made. So, today is the time of decision in your heart. God made you a living soul. Your soul will be in existence somewhere when the sun, the moon, and the stars have all grown cold. There was a time when you were not. But, there never will be a time when you will not be. Now, the question is where will you spend eternity?

Rev 14:13
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
KJV

When you die, either you are going to die in the Lord, or out of the Lord. So, the question is, if you died today, would you die in the Lord, or would you die out of the Lord? If you die in the Lord, of course, God says, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. On the other hand, if you die outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, what a curse, what a sorrow, what a tragedy it would be for you.

So, another question to consider is, if you were to die today, where would you be? In other words, if you get to where you are headed, where will you be? Five minutes from now you may be in heaven, or you may be in hell. These are the decisions of the living and the destiny of the dead.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the character of those have chosen to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, then you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. You wear the seal of possession, protection, and preservation, of the almighty God. You are the possession of God, and you can never lose your salvation. Nowhere in the Bible will you ever find where a person who was truly saved ever loses his or her salvation. Why? Because they are sealed by the Spirit. And what God has sealed, the Kings' seal can no man break.

Join in and listen to this message about the character of the 144,000 saints who witnessed for God during the Tribulation period, and how God preserved them all, not losing a single one.

Amen.

THE FALSE PROPHET (Revelation 13:13-18)

We are continuing our study of the future period called the Tribulation Period. This period is described in the book of Revelation. During this time Satan will have a False Prophet that will serve as the anti-Holy Spirit. There is the Antichrist, and this False Prophet will be the anti-Holy Spirit. His purpose will be to cause the world to worship the Antichrist and glorify Satan. He will be a servant of Satan.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the characteristics of this False Prophet. He will be a master of miracles. Not the fake, showboat, type of miracles, but real miracles such as calling fire down from heaven. In this message we talk about how you can determine if the miracle you are seeing is of God, or if it is of Satan. Don't be led astray by miracles. Don't put your eyes on miracles. You'd better put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God.

Amen.

THE DEVIL'S DUO (Revelation 13:4-12)

We are studying the future period called the Tribulation Period that is described in the book of Revelation. During this time Satan will seek to destroy the saints, dominate the world, and cause the world to worship him. Satan will have two agents to do this work, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. The book of Revelation in chapter 13, describes these two agents as beasts that come out of the sea and the land.

The first agent is called the Antichrist and this antichrist is going to be the devil's messiah. He's going to be the one who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he is god, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is god. Remember this about the devil: the devil doesn't want casualties; he wants converts. He wants people to worship him.

The second of Satan’s agents will be the False Prophet. The Antichrist will have an agent who is going to declare him to the world. He's going to have someone who is going to be the one who is his consultant, his person to make him popular and known to the world. This person is the False Prophet.

Satan is a fake, he is a fraud, he is a counterfeiter, and his greatest desire is set his stars above the stars the almighty God. He intends to do this by imitating everything God has. The Bible teaches the Holy Trinity of God, which is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Satan intends to imitate this Holy Trinity of God with an unholy trinity. In the unholy trinity, Satan, or the dragon, is the anti-father, the beast of sea is the anti-christ, and the False Prophet is the anti-holy spirit.

Thinking of it this way will help us understand the work of the anti-holy spirit. When we think of the true Holy Spirit, what is the work of Holy Spirit? What does He do in the believer’s heart? He causes them to love and to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that Satan is a counterfeiter, we can then assume that the anti-holy spirit will cause people to worship the Antichrist.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the two agents that make up the Devil’s duo during the Tribulation period. Even today, you have a choice, the beast or the Lamb. The Lamb of God who says, "Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest," or this beast out of the sea that's going to come out of the boiling, writhing sea of humanity. If the rapture is near, and it may be, the beast is alive and well today on Planet Earth, waiting in the shadows, waiting to step onto the stage.

If the trumpet were to sound today, and it may, and we heard a voice from heaven saying, "Come up hither," and we may, if Jesus were to step out of the glory today to receive His own, would you be ready? Are you saved? Do you know that you're saved? Are you absolutely ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ? Are you? I would not go without Jesus Christ 24 hours for anything you could offer me. Why would you go one day without the Lord Jesus Christ? You say, "Well, get right with God, you may die." Friend, get right with God, you may live!

Amen.

THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE BEAST (Revelation 13:1-4)

The word attribute is defined as, a quality or feature regarded as a characteristic or inherent part of someone or something. If I were to ask you to give me the attributes of the Antichrist, what would you say? Is he human? Is he ugly or hideous in his appearance? Can he perform miracles? Is he charming? Is he alive today? Will he be able to predict the future? No, he cannot. People do not know the future.

Do you know who else does not know the future? The devil. Actually, the devil is hideously beautiful, and brilliantly stupid. Why do I say this? Because he thought that he could overcome God. The Bible tells me that he is going to fail at this in a most spectacular way.

But there is one, and only one, who can prophesy, and that is God. It is a Biblical truth that only God knows the future.

Isa 46:9-10
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
KJV

Indeed, only God can prophesy, and the amazing thing is that God has enabled us to know the future straight from His own Words. Thank God that we have in this Bible a more sure word of prophecy, and we need to study it today, because no Christian living in these times can afford to be ignorant. The sands of time are running low for our generation, and history, as we know it, is headed for a climax.

Standing in the shadows in history is a man known as the antichrist, the beast, the man of sin, the son of perdition. This beast has many aliases, but in spite of all of his aliases, he has one heart and one motive. Over the next couple of weeks, there are five things that we need to learn about this beast. Our lesson today is going to focus on where he came from and a discussion of his attributes.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the character of Antichrist.

Amen.

GAINING VICTORY OVER SATAN (Revelation 12:11-17)

We are studying a period in the future called the Tribulation Period. It is a time which begins after the church is raptured out to meet the Lord in the air. It is a seven-year period of great tribulation and chaos. It is filled with war, disease, famine, and overwhelming demonic activity. During this Tribulation Period, Israel has many earthly foes, but Israel’s biggest enemy is Satan. John describes him as the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan. He is called a dragon, because he is so fierce. He is called a serpent, because he is so subtle. He is called the devil. The word devil means accuser because he is the accuser of the brethren. He is called Satan. The word Satan means adversary. Israel is in a spiritual fight with Satan.

As believers in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are also in a spiritual fight with Satan. Satan has a plan to destroy your witness. He has a battle strategy to defeat you as you do the work that God has given you to do.

In our message today, John speaks of the saints of the Tribulation Period when he says, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Satan, who is cast out of heaven once and for all, now is here upon the earth. He is filled with violent rage. He knows that things are closing in on him. He's like a cornered animal. He begins to fight against the saints with an intensity that he's never known before, and so there is a battle on earth during the Tribulation Period.

And even though, Satan and his minions, the Antichrist and the false prophet, slaughter untold millions upon millions of people, Satan does not defeat these saints. Instead, the saints gained victory over Satan. And what I want you to see in our message today is that John gives us the three-part formula that the saints used to gain this victory over Satan. And the wonderful thing about this message is that you can use that formula today in this age, or in any age to lead a victorious Christian life by defeating Satan’s plan for your life.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can gain victory over Satan in your life by the blood of the Lamb, the word of your testimony, and loving not your life even if it means you must die for Christ.

Amen.

ISRAEL'S SATANIC FOE (Revelation 12:3-12)

God has not turned His back on Israel. He has not forgotten them, and He has not abrogated any of the promises that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Every promise that God has made, God will fulfill completely, and He will fulfill it just as He planned to do so from the foundation of time. God’s plan is on schedule, and that plan includes God’s chosen people, the people of Israel. Israel is God's yardstick. Israel is God's measuring rod. Israel is God's blueprint, and Israel is God's program for what He is doing in the world. Each of us stand here today blessed because of Israel. The Bible that I hold dear to me is a Jewish book. I serve a Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has made Abraham a blessing to all the nations of the world.

Yet, the nation Israel has a satanic foe. Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation describes this foe as a great red dragon. John says that he is red because of his bloodlust. He is a murderer. He is called a dragon, because he's so fierce. He is called a serpent, because he's so subtle. He is called the devil, and the word devil means accuser because he's the accuser of the brethren. He is also called Satan, and the word Satan means adversary. Satan hates Jesus, and he hates the Jew. As Bible believing Christians, we are to love Jesus, and we are to love the Jew, if for no other reason than the fact that Satan hates them.

Satan is indeed a powerful foe, but he is also a defeated foe. Jesus Christ defeated Satan when He died on the cross and then rose victoriously from the grave. Satan is on his way down, and all those who follow him will go down with him. First, Satan was cast down from his lofty place in heaven where he was the anointed cherub, ministering praise to God, but still given access to heaven in order to accuse the brethren. Yet there is a time coming when even that limited access is taken from Satan and he's cast down to the earth. And then he's going to be cast into the bottomless pit, the abyss. Then, he's going to be taken out of the abyss and put into the lowest hell, and that's where he will spend eternity and he won't be ruling there in hell. He won’t be in charge of anything down there. He will simply be in the worst kind of torment, for all of eternity.

The one who said, I will exalt myself above the stars of God, will be brought down into the lowest hell. When Satan fell, he took a third of the angels with him. Every one of those angels, that chose to follow Satan, is going to be brought down to the lowest hell with him. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. God did not make hell for you. God made hell for the devil and the devil's angels. That tells me if you do go to hell, then you will be an intruder there. You will be going someplace you were not meant to go to, for Hell was not made for you. But if you chose to follow Satan, instead of Christ, then just like these angels, that will be your destiny. Why in the world would you choose to follow a loser? I have made my choice, and I am following the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you have made your choice for the Lord as well.

Click on the link below to learn about Israel’s satanic foe, and how you can defeat him and live a victorious Christian life.

Amen.