The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

DID YOU WORK HARD ENOUGH, TODAY, TO BE SAVED (Acts 15:1-11)

If this is the question you ask yourself at the end of each day, then I have some really good news for you.  That good news is, Your Salvation is by grace, not works.  God’s provision is that salvation is granted to us by our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

God tells us in His word, over and over again, in plain and simple words that “No, you have not been good enough.  Not today, or any other day of your entire life.  Not even close.”  In fact, I would not bet on the best 15 minutes of my life to get me into heaven, because it won’t. The truth is, no matter who you are, no matter how good your intentions are, you cannot be good enough to stand before God as righteous.  The Apostle Paul couldn’t.  Peter couldn’t.  Abraham couldn’t.  Billy Graham couldn’t, and the Pope most certainly couldn’t.  Nobody, not one of the great heroes of the Bible, and not one of the religious leaders of today, could stand on their works as justification for their salvation.  

But God does not leave you with just the statement that your works are as filthy rags before His Holiness.  The good news proclaimed in His word is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has done all the work for your salvation.  Now, all you have to do is believe on Him, confess and repent of your sins, and accept God’s gracious gift of eternal life.  That is all there is to it.  It is so simple, it is difficult.  It is difficult because most people can’t believe it is that simple.  It is simple because God did the difficult part.  Don’t believe for an instant that your salvation came easily and without great sacrifice.  God choose His only begotten Son to die on the cross for you as payment for your sin, and so that your salvation might be simple.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on the gospel truth that salvation is by God’s grace and not works.

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

Amen.

ISRAELS MOMENT (Acts 13:30-43)

In today’s lesson, the Apostle Paul will present the nation Israel with a choice, a moment, when they must choose or reject the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Paul is telling the Jews what the resurrection of Jesus meant to them.  It was an opportunity for salvation.  

This is the good news of the gospel message of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.  The best news this world has ever heard came from a graveyard just outside Jerusalem: “He is not here … he is risen” (Matthew 28:6).

The gospel is good news. The bad news is that we are sinners.  Sinners by birth, sinners by nature, sinners by choice, sinners by practice, and sinners under condemnation. All of us, without the Lord Jesus Christ, are in debt to God, defiled by sin, and sin has dominion over us.  That is the bad news about sin.

So, what is the good news that obliterates the bad news?  The Good news is that Jesus died for our sins. Jesus died because of our sins, and for our sins. It was our sins that were the nails that held Him to the cross. Our hard hearts were the hammers that drove those nails into His quivering palms and feet. He died for our sin.

When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), that literally means “it is paid in full.” Jesus paid it all. The sin debt is blotted out by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus also deals with the defilement of sin. It is not enough to be pardoned from our sins, for there is still that defilement, that sentence of death in our body.  Jesus, by His sacrifice, not only pays our sin debt, but Jesus also deals with our sin defilement.  And then, by His resurrection, Jesus conquers death, and sin no longer has dominion over us, and we will have eternal life with Jesus in Heaven.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you will believe it, and receive it, then you will be saved. There is no other way that you can be saved apart from the gospel.  

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

Amen.

TO BE CALLED A CHRISTIAN (Acts 11:1-30)

Today, we are going to study about what a Christian is and how you go about becoming one.  When you look up the word Christian in the dictionary you will find several meanings of the word, from a believer in Jesus Christ as Savior, to having something to do with a Christian organization, a church, or a nation.  

Although it is not true today, for much of our nation’s history, the world’s image of the U.S. was that of a Christian nation and anybody coming from it must be a Christian, just like anybody coming from an Islamic nation must be a Muslim.  This was something we treasured and took great honor in.  However, this view has not always been favorable in the eyes of the rest of the world, and there are many in our society who have succeeded in changing this image away from our Christian heritage.  The true meaning of the word Christian is quite different from that of the world’s definition.  In fact, Satan has been working hard to make the definition to be something generic, to be something that has no real special meaning or power behind it.  

So, what is a Christian?  The disciples were called Christians by God.  God gave this name to those who had received the Word of God in their hearts.  They received the gospel and were, therefore, born again through the power of the risen Christ in heaven.  They were Christians not because they lived in America, or attended a specific church, they were Christians because they belonged to Christ.  

In Cantonese, the word for Christian is “Yasu-yan.”  Yasu is their word for Jesus, and yan is the word for man.  A Christian is a Jesus-man in their language.  I like that name.  Jesus-man, because it means that we belong to Jesus.  We are made Christians by Christ.  As Christians we are given the light that is Jesus Christ to live within us.

Click on the link below to hear a message on what it means to be a Christian.

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

Amen.