The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

LEARNING TO SHARE YOUR FAITH (Acts 10:34-48)

LEARNING TO SHARE YOUR FAITH (Acts 10:34-48)

Let me tell you something very important, the door to salvation and eternal life in heaven with God is very wide.  The Bible tells us that, “There is no respect of persons,” and best of all it says in Revelation 22:17: “Whosoever will may come.”  The Bible also says that if anyone will believe on Him, that person will “receive remission of sins.”  

So, I want you to say to yourself this morning, “I can be saved if I want to be saved.” God did not say that only some people can be saved, and other people cannot be saved, that some are in a select group. No, “there is no respect of persons with God,” none whatsoever. If you go to hell, a brokenhearted God will watch you drop into hell. It is not God’s plan that you die and go to hell. “The Lord is … not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:9) 

But, the second thing is, if you are going to be saved, then you are going to be saved by Jesus, or you are not going to be saved at all. Jesus is not a good way to go to heaven. Jesus is not the best way to go to heaven. Jesus is the only way to go to heaven. And, if Jesus is not the only way, then He is none of the ways. He is not just one of the ways; He is either the only way or none of the ways. 

John 14:6 
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
KJV

Now, that is either true or false.  If it is true, then He is the only way. If it is false, then He is a liar and He is not any of the ways. So, you can’t just kind of tip your hat to Jesus; you have to bow your knee to Jesus.

And so, the door is very wide, but the way is very narrow.  Anybody can come through the door to Jesus, but the only way that you can come to God the Father is through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to share your faith and lead someone to that wide open door.

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

Amen.

THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Acts 10:24-48)

THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Acts 10:24-48)

In today’s message, we have two men, one lost, one a man of God, and we have the Holy Spirit of God, and the Word of God, all coming together to bring about the conversion of a group of Gentiles.

What I like about this section of verses is that they are a tremendous example of how to witness to a lost person that has been prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive the Word of God. Peter is given the chance to answer the question of why he believes in Jesus Christ, and then he tells Cornelius why it is important for him to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, as well.  Peter proclaims that he saw what Jesus did, he saw the miracles, he saw Him crucified, and then best of all, he saw Jesus resurrected from the dead, walking amongst us.

It is with this foundation that Peter brings Cornelius to the decision point of choosing to accept Jesus, or to reject Him.  It is the same decision that each person must ultimately make, for it is our acceptance or rejection of Jesus as our Lord and Master that will determine our fate in eternity.  

Christianity is not just a creed, a code, a cause, or a church.  It is a vital relationship with Jesus Christ.  He alone has the words of eternal life.  In Him dwells all the fullness and the wisdom of God.  Only Jesus can meet the deepest desires of the human heart.  

Peter declared that God raised Jesus up on the third day, and it is this resurrection fact that sets Christianity apart from all of the other religions.  We do not preach a religion filled with rituals and rules.  We preach a risen, living Christ.  

Christianity does not say, “Come and keep these commandments,” or “Observe these ordinances,” or “Worship these relics,” or even “Perform these penances.”  

Christianity says, “Come meet the risen, living Jesus Christ in whom salvation rests.”

Our relationship as believers is with a risen Savior, and it is that relationship that determines our eternal destiny.  Jesus died for our sins, and He was raised again for our justification.  It is the blood of Jesus Christ that purchased our redemption, and it is the living Christ that sits at the right hand of the Father.  It is the living Christ that will clothe us with the robes of righteousness and proclaim us to the Father.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on the grace of the Holy Spirit.

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

Amen.

HEARING AND DOING THE WILL OF GOD (Acts 9:1-27)

HEARING AND DOING THE WILL OF GOD (Acts 9:1-27)

I want to talk today about Hearing and Doing the Will of God.  Scripture tells us that we are all called to be missionaries.  However, not everyone is called to be a fulltime vocational missionary.  But, whether it is across the street, or around the world, we are all called to carry the light of Jesus Christ.  And I know that if you are a child of God, and understand the Bible, then you believe that.  

If I were to ask you, who is the world’s greatest missionary that has ever lived, I think we would all say that his name was Paul, a missionary named Paul. Without a doubt, without equivocation or contradiction, I believe that we would have to say that the Apostle Paul was the world’s greatest missionary, and what I want us to do today is to hear how God laid the missionary call on the heart of the Apostle Paul. Now, as we do that, it is going to speak to us because we are going to find some principles as to how God works and how God speaks.

Certainly, an important question that people have, who are sincere in their desire to serve God, is “How can I know the will of God for my life?” And, that is an excellent question, and there is a Biblical answer.  This question is important because, as servants of God, we must know the will of God for our lives. Success in life is not necessarily making a lot of money or being famous, but it is the progressive realization of the will of God for your life. That is success. And, who doesn’t want to be successful?

Click on the link below to hear a message on Hearing and Doing the Will of God in your life.

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

Amen.

THE MARKS OF A MAN MADE NEW (Acts 9:17-22)

THE MARKS OF A MAN MADE NEW (Acts 9:17-22)

When we make Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, we become a new creation.  We are made new.  A great preacher once said, “Nature forms us. Sin deforms us. School informs us. Prison reforms us. But, only Christ transforms us.” 

In Christ, we become new. A Christian is not just somebody who has become nice; he has become new. He doesn’t just turn over a new leaf; he receives a new life. A Christian is not like a tadpole that has become a frog, which has gone through a series of changes, but basically, it is the same creature. No, a Christian is more like a frog that has received the kiss of grace and has become a prince.  That is what we are. We are changed radically and dramatically.  We are a new creature.

When Saul of Tarsus met the Lord Jesus on that road to Damascus, Saul asked the two greatest questions that anybody in this world could ever ask: “Who art thou, Lord?” and “Lord, what [would you] have me to do?”  Somebody has said that the Apostle Paul spent the rest of his life finding the answer to those two questions: “Who art thou, Lord?” and “Lord, what [would you] have me to do?”  They truly are wonderful questions! I would to God that everyone in the whole wide world would sincerely ask those questions: Who is Jesus, and what does Jesus want me to do?  

As you study the Bible, you will see that the Bible doesn’t put the emphasis upon receiving Christ as Savior.  The Bible puts the emphasis upon making Jesus Lord. And, when you make Jesus Christ Lord, He is, therefore, your Savior. Now, I’m not saying that He doesn’t save.  Indeed, He does save.  But, while the Bible mentions Him as Savior 24 times, it mentions Him as Lord 433 times. When they spoke of the Lord Jesus, they called Him “the Lord Jesus.” Nobody is saved, who has not made Jesus Lord.  Listen, you cannot have what He gives—salvation—unless you receive what He is—and that is Lord.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the marks of a man made new in Christ.

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

Amen.

SAUL'S COMMISSION (Acts 9:9-31)

SAUL’S COMMISSION (Acts 9:9-31)

As I prepared the lesson this week, I began to consider how it described the tremendous life changing effect that accepting Jesus as your Savior can have.  Statistics tell us that the vast majority of conversions take place when a person is young.  In fact, the older a person gets, the less likely they are to accept the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  This is why is it is so important that our children are taught the Word of God from an early age.  For an adult, accepting Christ may mean changing your friends, changing the way you spend your entertainment time, and changing what you watch on TV and social media.  It can mean being ridiculed by, or even ostracized from, your family.  

All of your preconceived notions about God that have been engrained in your mind from our public education system and the media, about the absolute moral truths that are found in the Bible, your ideas about the Bible itself, and about who Jesus is, and what He did for you, are suddenly changed.  For many new believers, there is a period of loneliness as they move away from old relationships and search for new ones.  

In today’s lesson we will see Saul go through this change, and then we will see Barnabas as he befriends the new Saul when no one else would, and then we will see the power of the Holy Spirit create a tremendous new warrior for Christ in Saul.  If nothing else, this lesson should challenge each of us to be open to welcoming new believers, mentoring them, and letting them know that they have a brand new family to be a part of.  

Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul, was a chosen vessel, as we all are.  No two believers are alike.  We all have been prepared by God to do His will in this world.  Saul was the vessel chosen to carry the saving name of Jesus before the Gentiles, kings, and Israel, in that order.  He was to be more than anything else, an apostle to the Gentiles.  His training and his background prepared him in ways that not even Peter could match.  Nobody else within the new church had Paul’s intellect, and training, and God would use these tools to the good of His will.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how Saul of Tarsus, the greatest enemy of the body of Christ, became the apostle Paul, the greatest missionary of the Gentile world.  

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

Amen.

FINDING SALVATION AT THE FEET OF THE SAVIOR (Acts 8;30-9:8)

FINDING SALVATION AT THE FEET OF THE SAVIOR (Acts 8:30-9:8)

For it is at the feet of the Savior, Jesus Christ, that everyone’s salvation takes place.  It is by no other name in heaven above, or on the earth, or below the earth, that salvation can occur.  It is only by the blood of Jesus Christ that our salvation can be purchased. 

In today’s message we will see that in every conversion there are three ingredients that are brought to bear to create that conversion.

First, there is the work of the Holy Spirit: The Spirit of God goes ahead to prepare the heart of the lost person, and also to prepare the messenger.  This leading of the Spirit of God is absolutely essential.  Unfortunately, in many cases, we get ahead of the Holy Spirit and barge forward before He has set the stage for us.  We ought to make it a matter of definite prayer before we talk to anyone. We should talk to the Lord about that person, before, we talk to them about the Lord. It is not simply that we need the Holy Spirit to lead us. What we need is for the Spirit of God to go ahead of us and prepare the way, then to call us up to where He is. 

The second ingredient that is brought to bear is The Word of God:  The Word of God is absolutely essential. The Holy Spirit will take the things of Christ and will reveal them to an individual. It is the Spirit of God, using the Word of God, that brings the knowledge of God, and the faith in God.  For it is in the Word of God that the very basis of our faith is found.  Without the promises of the Word of God, our faith is empty and without merit.  

The third ingredient is the man of God:  When God gets ready to save somebody, He uses human instrumentality. God doesn’t reach out of Heaven and simply convict, convert, and save a person without human instrumentality being involved someway. That is the plan of God.  The ministry of the Holy Spirit of God is primarily a ministry of cooperation. He will not do it without you, and you cannot do it without Him.  Now, it doesn’t have to be a preacher, or a missionary, it could simply be a friend or a stranger, that brings to that person the Word of God.  It could be by how they live their lives that causes them to ask questions, or by direct witness.  I believe that the Spirit of God, uses the man of God, who delivers the Word of God, to produce a son of God, one who is born again. 

Click on the link below to hear a message on how salvation can be found at the feet of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

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

Amen.

DON'T GO TO HEAVEN ALONE (Acts 8:26-35)

DON’T GO TO HEAVEN ALONE (Acts 8:26-35)

The title of today’s lesson is “Don’t Go to Heaven Alone.” Instead, take somebody with you. I want to talk to you about how to win men, women, boys, and girls to Jesus Christ.  Did you know that we have an ability, and a joy, that angels don’t have? That is to win souls. Did you know that angels can’t do what we can do? And did you know that winning a soul is something that we can do now, that we will not be able to do when we get to Heaven? There is something, there is a joy, that Earth has that Heaven knows nothing about, and that is the winning of souls. And my, how you ought to be interested—not only in going to Heaven, but in taking somebody with you!

The simple truth is that you are not fit to be a servant of God, if you are not willing to witness.  Amen? Every servant of God is to be filled with the Holy Spirit who can witness through you.  The ministry of the Holy Spirit of God is primarily a ministry of cooperation. He will not do it without you, and you cannot do it without Him.  It is His ability, and your availability. It is His power, and it is your personality. It is His work, but it is your witness. That is God’s plan—not God doing it all, not you doing it all, but God doing it through you. And, in a Christian, Christ lives again. The Church is the Body of Christ. And the Lord has said, “Ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8).

We ought to be sharing the message of Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit is preparing somebody in your world.  And God the Holy Spirit wants to find somebody that He can use, somebody who will be insistent to the cause of the Spirit. That is the way God does it. Oh, it is time that we got excited about winning people to Jesus Christ!

What is it all about? Why did Jesus Christ hang naked on a cross in agony and blood? The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.  Getting souls saved is what it is all about. The Bible says, “He that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30).  We all have members in our family who are lost. One day, the clods will fall on that casket, and every clod will say, “Lost, lost, lost.” You’ll say, “My God, why didn’t I witness?”  So, I want to tell you, that it is time we got excited about what excites God, and that is bringing people to Jesus Christ. 

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to be a soul winner for Christ, and don’t go to Heaven alone, take somebody with you. 

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

Amen.

THE GOSPEL REACHES OUT BEYOND JERUSALEM (Acts 8:1-17)

THE GOSPEL REACHES OUT BEYOND JERUSALEM (Acts 8:1-17)

With the death of Stephen, the intent, and purpose, of the religious leaders changes from keeping the church from being created, to destroying it and anyone who would dare to become a member. Saul of Tarsus was put in charge of this persecution.  It was religion without the Holy Spirit that blinded Saul’s eyes, as it has many others throughout history.  When you look back at the history of this world, a significant portion of the wars that have occurred were fought because of the blindness that religion without the Holy Spirit brings to people.  Religion without the Holy Spirit is one of the cruelest forces in the world.  

Click on the link below to hear a message that teaches us that being saved is much more than simply believing in Jesus.  Satan truly believes in Jesus, but he is not saved.  For a person to be saved they must Be convicted by the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit that convicts the lost person of the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ.  It is not true that a sinner, in and of himself, repents and believes, and then God enters into the process in forgiveness.  God seeks the sinner. It is God that calls man unto salvation. 

Next, for a person to be saved, they must acknowledge and confess their sin before God.  Confession of sin on the part of the Christian is not a mere admission of that sin to God.  The act of confession includes the Christian coming into agreement with God in regard to his sin, of agreeing with God as to what He says about that sin, and what the Christian ought to do about it.  It requires the Christian to repent of that sin, meaning they have a change of heart about that sin.  It means stopping, turning around, and choosing to turn away from that sin and follow the will of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Confession of Christ means the public acknowledgment of Christ and all that He is and stands for. The act of confession implies that the one confessing, or professing, the Lord Jesus, has come to agree with the Bible's estimate of Jesus. To confess Him means much more than to make a statement with the lips. It also means to back up that statement with the life.  It is one thing to say, "Jesus Christ is Lord," and quite another thing to surrender to Him and obey His will. The walk and the talk must go together.

God desires that all men are to be saved, but that salvation requires all three elements, conviction, confession, and repentance.  And most of all it requires the cleansing power of the precious blood of Christ.   

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

Amen.

WHERE DOES GOD LIVE? (Acts 7:47-49)

WHERE DOES GOD LIVE? (Acts 7:47-49)

The title of our lesson today is “Where Does God Live?”  I don’t know of any subject that excites me more than the answer to the question “Where Does God Live?”  And, I can tell you that if you will learn what I have to say today, not because I say it, but because of the truth of it, it will radically, dramatically, and eternally change your life. 

So many of us think of God as sort of an absentee landholder.  That somehow, we are down here on earth, and He has saved us, forgiven our sins, and then given us a shove, and said, “Do the best you can.”  And He is up there in heaven peering down through the clouds, and every now and then, we are sending prayers up to Him and saying, “O God, as you sit at master control up there, do something to help me down here because I am in great, great difficulty.” And when we don’t see a response from God, we sometimes pray and say, “You know, I pray, and my prayers never got above the light bulbs.” If that is what you think, do you know what your problem is?  It is because you think God is way up there above the light bulbs.  Listen, God is beneath the light bulbs, as well as above the light bulbs, and that is what we need to learn. We need to learn where God is and where God lives.

Let me ask a question, if you wanted to write God a letter, do you know His address? Do you have the zip code? Where does God live? Sometimes we say about the church we worship in, “Well, this is the house of God.” This is not the house of God. Now, it’s God’s house in the sense that He owns it, but “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:26, 28) But, this is not God’s address. As a matter of fact, God has been living in a series of houses, and I want to talk to you about those houses today, because when you learn this lesson, you will learn a great, great, truth.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on where God lives, where God dwells.  God has moved into people. In the Old Testament, He had a temple for His people. In the New Testament, He has a people for a temple. We are the temple of God, and God lives in us.  That is the answer to the question “Where does God live?” The answer is God lives in us.  

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

Amen.

LEARNING TO STAND ALONE (Acts 6:3-15; 7:51-60)

LEARNING TO STAND ALONE (Acts 6:3-15; 7:51-60)

I want to talk to you today about “Learning to Stand Alone.” I thank God for the power that we have when we stand together.  Someone has said that “One will chase a thousand; ten will chase ten thousand.” Thank God for the power that we have to stand together as brothers and sisters in Christ.  But you know, the time may come when you are all by yourself, when you don’t have your brothers and sisters in Christ around about you. And you are going to have to learn how to stand alone. 

There is coming a time when you are going to have to be one against the crowd, and you are going to be all by yourself against great odds.  One of most common situations for Christians today where this is true, is when we send our kids off to college.  If your child is a follower of Christ, then they are going to have to stand alone, even at our religious universities and seminaries.  They will have in their college classes, atheistic, agnostic, cynics, for professors.  They may be the only Christian in that class, and they are going to have to stand up for the Lord Jesus. 

Another common area is on your job, where you are forced to deal with DEI mandates from your employer, and training on how to interact with people who believe that being a Christian, and having Christian morals, is an offence that you can be fired for.  But, you will have to stand up for the Lord Jesus.

The point is that there are times when we are going to have to stand alone, because we are twice-born people in a world of once-born people, and we are going to find ourselves going against the tide. And as we get closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are going to find that the opposition is sharpening, and the hostility is emerging more vicious, and more furious than ever, and we will have to stand alone. The Bible says that we are to stand against that evil. It says to “take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13) Our job, our duty, and our privilege is to stand for Christ.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the secret to standing for Christ. If you have to stand alone, then stand alone, and let the Holy Spirit of God give you wisdom to speak for Christ. Let him give you power to stand for Christ. Let him give you faith to suffer for Christ.

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

Amen.