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Episodes
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 Oct 16, 2022
Sunday Oct 16, 2022
Without faith it is impossible to please God. You will never succeed in your Christian life without believing God. Faith is the mark of a Christian. Christians were called believers before they were called Christians. It is our chief duty to believe God, and in order to believe God, then you must hear from God.
How can we hear the voice of God? The Bible tells us that God speaks to us by His Son. So, how does God do that? The Bible teaches that we have three things. We have the written Word of God. We have the mind of Christ, and we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Now, the wonderful good news about having these three things to hear from God, is that it gives us such an advantage over what the Old Testament prophets had to hear from God. You see, these Old Testament characters, before they had the Bible, before they knew what we know by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they had to wait for God to break in with some open revelation, some vision, some ecstasy. We don’t have to do that.
Listen, don’t just miss this Biblical truth by nonchalance. We have the inspired, inerrant written Word of God, and we have the mind of Christ, and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God, all speaking to us and sharing the will of God in our lives. You have such an advantage today in being able to know the will of God. You don’t have to guess at the will of God, you can know the will of God. You can have the confidence to say to God as you pray, “Lord, this is Your will, and I thank You for it, and I stand on it.”
How can you have this confidence? You can have it because you have the written word of God, the Holy Spirit of God, and the mind of Christ.
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.
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 02, 2021
Sunday May 02, 2021
God wants us, as believers, to be free from the bondage of the world so that we might live a life that follows God’s chosen path for us. But, have you ever asked yourself, how do we walk that path, and what should we expect as we walk that path? That is the focus of today’s message, what does God’s Word say about what it is like to walk God’s chosen path for each of us. God wants you to know that it is a peaceful life. It is peaceful in the good times, and it is peaceful in times of stress.
God’s path requires that you give the Lord your love and loyalty, and to put Christ first in all that we do. If we do these things, then we will have God’s peace. As a result, we know that, come what may, all will be well. There is no greater gift this side of Heaven than to have the peace of God standing watch over our hearts.
Phil 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
KJV
When we walk along God’s path for our lives, His wisdom tells us that we can have peace in good times and times of stress because we know the place where faith stands:
Prov 3:26
26 For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
KJV
Faith takes its stand in the Lord. Never believe that this struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, and truth versus lie, is a mighty battle between equals. It is not. It is not even close. God is the omnipotent, omniscient, Creator of all things. He has but to speak and all evil is defeated.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what we should expect when we walk God’s path for our lives. The answer is that God does not ask us to walk that path without His promises to bless us with His wisdom and power to succeed on our course. The key to finding these promises, and to accomplishing His will, is to put Christ first in all things, and to hold dearly to the wisdom that comes with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 28, 2021
Sunday Mar 28, 2021
There is a popular bumper sticker out there that says “God is my Copilot.” Well, if that is true in your life, then you better swap seats. God needs to in the driver’s seat of your life. We all like to be in control of our lives, but if you are to know God’s will, then you must let God be the one who chooses your way, not you. You see, finding God’s will is not something that you are to figure out in your flesh. It is not a puzzle that we need to figure out. God is not leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow. No, instead, we are called to trust in the Lord.
Someone once said, “To know the Lord Jesus is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to obey Him. To obey Him is to find God’s will for your life. And to find God’s will for your life is to be blessed.” The Word of God says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” No ifs, ands, and buts about it. If you let Almighty God choose the way, control the way, confirm the way, and clear the way, then you will know the will of God for your life.
Now, let me just give you some very practical advice and I want you to think about it. The way to know the will of God for your life is to do the will of God immediately and in all things. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Don’t wait till tomorrow morning. I mean, starting now! Number two: Obey Him in the small things; then the big ones will take care of themselves. Everything big is made of little things. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” (Luke 16:10)
It’s hard to steer a ship that’s not moving, that means that God can’t steer a life that is not moving towards Him. I want to repeat again, the way to know the will of God for your life is to do the will of God immediately and to do it in all things. Obey Him in the small things; then the big ones will take care of themselves.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
Each of us, as a believer, is seeking the will of God for our lives. We ask, are we doing what God has planned for us? Are we touching the people around us with the gospel message of the cross?
As husbands, are we prayerfully leading our families in the path that God has chosen for us? Are we the spiritual leaders of our families? Does our family even know that we think about the will of God for the family? Do they ever see us praying? Do you pray together as a family seeking God’s will?
As wives, are you the prayer warrior that God wants each of us to be, but so often it is the wife and mother of the family that fills this role? Does your family know that God is the one making the choices in your life? Can they see God in the way you conduct yourself on a daily basis?
As married couples are you walking in the same direction, yoked together, pulling in the same direction, with your eyes on God? Are you both surrendered to God? Not just committed, but completely surrendered to the one, true, living, almighty God of all creation.
How to decide when and where to move in the work of Lord? That is always a crucial question facing those that would do the Lord’s work. Certainly, for most believers, the most difficult part is separating the desires of our own heart from the desires of the Lord. Sometimes they coincide, sometimes they do not.
Seeking the Lord’s will is something each Christian should be doing on a daily basis.
Finding the Lord’s will is the result of quiet, careful, meditation on the Word of God with a surrendered heart.
So how do you know which way is right? You start by asking yourself whether your heart is in a condition that can even hear the will of God? In other words, are you speaking from a surrendered heart that is fully obedient to God? If your heart is not surrendered to God, if you are not obedient to God’s Word, then you cannot know the will of God.
Then, have you prayed and asked God to reveal the sin that is in your heart, and then confessed and repented of it? If there is unconfessed and unrepented sin in your life, that sin will keep you from hearing God’s will.
Isaiah 59:2
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
KJV
In my experience, this is the single biggest block between the prayer of the believer and the answer from God. Many people want to live in sin, knowingly, and then expect God to ignore it and act like it doesn’t exist. That will not happen. God knows every sin, in every dark corner that you have placed it. If you want to know the will of God, then you must first confess and repent of your sins.
Next, ask yourself, have you prayed about the question and then listened for God’s response, or have you simply told God the answer you want to hear?
Then ask, is what you want meeting the purpose of Christ for this church being here, or for you still being on this earth? Will it bring lost people to know Him? If it doesn’t, then you need to rethink, and change your desires.
Are you willing to accept God’s answer, whatever it may be? You cannot know the will of God by intuition, or based on past experience, you must be willing to pray and accept God’s will, or it will never be revealed to you. Why should God reveal His will if He knows you will not accept and be obedient to it?
Now, we have been talking about how to have God’s wisdom in our lives. We need God’s wisdom in order to discern God’s will in our lives. Our study over the next couple of weeks will be on how to determine the will of God in our lives, and the very first thing we must do is to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. You cannot know the will of God unless you have made the Holy Spirit the president of your life, not just a resident in your heart, but the president of your life. Then, once you are saved, once you have completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit, the very next thing you must do is to be obedient to the Word of God. You must obey God’s commandments. In order to do that, then you must have God’s Word hidden in your heart.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how to determine the will of God for you life.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 07, 2021
Sunday Mar 07, 2021
If you are searching for wisdom from God because you have a question, you have a problem, or you have a need, then there is good news for you. God desires that we have His wisdom so much that He sent His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus, to die upon Calvary’s cross that you might know His wisdom; and He sent His dear Holy Spirit to teach it. The book of Proverbs is indeed God’s book to health, wealth, and wisdom for His children. These proverbs are God’s ways for God’s people.
If you want this wisdom, then God tells us that the first step on this infallible path to His wisdom is that you must pursue the Scriptures. God says, “My son, if thou wilt receive my words …” It’s all predicated on that. If you choose not to receive God’s Word, then you will never have God’s wisdom. God’s Word, the infallible, inerrant, Word of God, is God’s handbook of wisdom for His children. You must pursue it. You must pour over it. You must study it. You must saturate yourself with it.
In order for you to receive God’s Word, then you must appreciate God’s Word. You must be willing to receive it with an open heart. You must welcome it into your heart. Yet, appreciating God’s Word is not enough, you also have to appropriate God’s Word. That means, not only do you need to let it get in, but you have to let it get down deep inside of you. Then, once you have appropriated the Word of God, then you must assimilate it. The word assimilate means to take in information, ideas, and understand it fully. Then, you must activate the Word of God in your life. You must apply it in your daily life.
God says that we must,“…apply thine heart to understanding.” When you apply it—when it gets out of the notebook and into your head, and then when it gets out of your head and into your heart, and when it gets out of your heart and into your life, and you begin to live it, and you begin to apply it, and you begin to activate it—at that moment, it becomes wisdom to you.
Listen, there is no finer food known to man that a plate full of biscuits and sausage gravy, at least the way my wife makes it. But it is not enough for me to simply appreciate that plate of biscuits and gravy. I can sit there and say how wonderful it is all day, but that is not enough. It is also not enough for me to appropriate it by sitting it down in front of me, possessing it. No, that is not enough. It is also not enough for me to assimilate it, to bend down and smell that wonderful aroma of goodness. It is not until I activate my hand to put that biscuit and gravy into my mouth and let it settle down in my stomach that I have put that food into my life. It is the same with God’s Word.
Jer 15:16
16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.
KJV
You must activate the Word of God in your life. You must apply it in your daily life. Now, when you come to God with fervency, consistency, expectancy, and after you have received the Word of God, then you can pray to God for wisdom, and it shall be given. God’s not going to scold you. He’s not going to say, “Is that you again, pestering me?” Oh no! God is pleased when I come to Him daily and say, “God, I need wisdom here.” “Lord, I’m preparing a lesson; Lord, help me.” “Lord, I’m making a decision; Lord, help me.” “Lord, I’m seeking a college, a wife; I need to buy a home; I want to win souls; Lord, I want to be used; God, give me wisdom!” God will give it. God wants you to have wisdom.
However, there is one thing above all else that you must have if you are to have the wisdom of God, if you would know wisdom. There must be the presence of the Savior in your heart. You see, a man can have knowledge, but he needs understanding. He needs wisdom! In order for you to know the secrets of the universe, you have to know the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Bible says,
Col 2:3
3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
KJV
Jesus is the secret of the universe. Jesus is the glue of the galaxies. Jesus is the secret of it all, and the only way that a man can know it, is not by books, but by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some things that you cannot learn from experience. Wisdom is the presence of the Savior. You will never have real wisdom until you know the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart.
Prov 2:7-9
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
KJV
Who is our righteousness? Who is our wisdom? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. God is telling us that in Christ, there is soundness; in Christ, there is strength; in Christ there is security, and in Christ, there is satisfaction.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can have the wisdom of God. Do you want God’s wisdom? Then you must follow the infallible path to that wisdom. You must know Jesus. Christ must be in your heart!
Amen.
Sunday Jan 24, 2021
Sunday Jan 24, 2021
Are you prepared? Well, prepared for what? In these days of unrest there is a whole group of people who are called “preppers.” They have go-bags that are at the ready to grab in the event of an emergency, be it a hurricane, a riot, or some other cataclysmic event. Those bags contain food, camping equipment, and tools for survival without all of the support that we have in our society, like electricity, grocery stores, hospitals, gas stations, and even the internet. They are prepared to face a crisis event.
So, how you respond to the question of Are You Prepared depends on what you need to be prepared for? Is it a crisis event, or is it just to go to work today, or to school to take that exam?
Our message today is going to ask the Christian believer Are You Prepared to go out into the secular world? This message is for every believer, young or old, rich or poor, educated or not. For you to live a victorious Christian life you have to be prepared to face a world full of temptation and sin. This is especially true of our children as they get to the age where they will enter the world. But even though this message seems to be directed at our children, the principles that Solomon describes are just as applicable to adults.
One of the primary responsibilities of a Christian parent is to prepare their children to go out into the world and live a life that honors and glorifies God. Now, every parent wants their child to go out and succeed, but a secular parent and a Christian parent should have different definitions for the word succeed. The world looks at success in terms of wealth, power, happiness, and a family.
A Christian looks at success as finding fulfillment in always being obedient to the will of God for their lives. Now, wealth, power, happiness, and a family, may, or may not, come for the Christian, but if they do, they are simply due to the grace of God, not because of anything that we have done. Our trust is in the love that God has for us, and the certain knowledge that He will provide everything we need, and much more than we deserve.
If your trust is in something other than God to provide for your needs, like your own hard work, then you are not prepared to do God’s will for your life. This is true because it impacts your priorities. If your priority is to provide for your needs, then those needs will always come before your work for God.
Other than making sure your children know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, teaching them this concept of duty and service to God is the single most important principle that we can give them. It is to be more important than teaching them how to read, to write, to dress themselves, and to be polite. All those things are important, but without God, and without a desire to serve God, they will be easy prey for the world.
Click on the link below to hear a message that asks the question Are You Prepared to go out into the secular world?
Amen.
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
I am going to tell you a little secret about me. When I dream, I am always the hero. I am the one who saves the damsel in distress. I am the one who charges into the fire and carries out the little baby, and I am the one who captures the bad guy and puts him into jail. In my dreams, it’s me who is the one doing everything wonderful. In my dreams, I am the hero. Yeah, I know, I have watched way too many John Wayne movies.
However, in reality, if something bad happened, I know that I could barely save myself. I would put up a good fight, especially if you threatened my family, and that includes my dogs. But, I have learned from experience what my limitations are. No, I know that in real life, when real danger comes, that it is the real heroes of our society that do the saving. It is the fireman who climbs that ladder to save the damsel while the building is burning all around him. It is the policeman who puts his life on the line to catch the bad guy and put them into jail, and it is the soldier who stands on the line between tyranny and freedom. These are the real heroes.
Now, truth be told, I am really glad we have these heroes because I couldn’t do it. Not anymore, and probably never could, but that is not what I tell myself in my dreams. Hey, a man can still have his dreams, right?
In today’s lesson, we are going to talk about dreams, and what happens in the dreams that God gives us, and who the hero is in God’s dreams. You see, sometimes God will put a dream in our heart. Sometimes God will lay something on us and give us a vision.
I firmly believe that God speaks, God leads, and God will plant things down deep in your heart. But, I want to be clear that when I say the word dreams or vision in our lesson today that I don’t mean that you will see movies in your mind, but I do mean that God will lay things on your heart. Things that He wants you to do.
I’m also not talking about human schemes, or carnal ambition. I’m talking about things that God lays on us that I believe from my heart of hearts are from Him. I believe that God gives a dream to everyone, that is, if they’ll listen. God didn’t just put us here to waste time and idle away. God made us for something very wonderful, and the Bible says,
Eph 2:10
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
KJV
The word workmanship means that we are His work of art, and God built us to work for Him.
Click on the link below to hear a message about a dream that God laid on David’s heart, and how God expounded and expanded that dream beyond anything that David could imagine.
Amen.
Saturday Apr 18, 2020
Saturday Apr 18, 2020
Today’s message is on prayer and it comes from chapter 17 of the Gospel of John. This is a prayer of the Lord Jesus. It is a deep and profound prayer. In times like this, a time when great numbers of people are dying from a disease, a time when great persecution of God’s people is taking place, a time when there is doubt and fear about what is happening in the world, prayer is the most important thing in a Christian’s life. It is prayer that prepares us for anything. It is prayer that allows us to be prepared to face any fear, any tragedy, any persecution. The best preparation for anything is to pray.
The purpose of prayer is that God will be glorified. Prayer prepares us to do what God would have us to do. Then, when we do what God would have us to do, God will be glorified.
If you wish to learn the purpose of prayer in a Christian’s life, then I can’t think of a better way to do it than to eavesdrop on the Son of God when He prays. Imagine that, we get to hear the words of the Son of God as He prays. What a privilege that is.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how prayer can take you through any tragedy, any trial, in order that you might finish the things that God has for you to do.
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
Thursday Jul 16, 2015