Episodes
Monday Feb 12, 2024
THE BIRTH OF ISAAC (Genesis 20:1 to 21:34)
Monday Feb 12, 2024
Monday Feb 12, 2024
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.
Monday Dec 04, 2023
ABRAM’S VICTORY (Genesis 14:1 to 15:5)
Monday Dec 04, 2023
Monday Dec 04, 2023
In today’s message we will discuss a meeting between Abram and Melchizedek, the King of Salem, and then we will see a particularly seductive temptation of Abram when the meeting between Abram and the king of Sodom occurs. God will always prepare us for the temptations or trails that we will face, and in this case, He brings Melchizedek out to meet Abram first.
As I read these verses, several questions just jump right out at me. To begin with, where did this man Melchizedek come from? He just walks out onto the page of Scripture with bread and wine, he blesses Abram, and then he walks off the page of Scripture. It makes me want to know where he came from, then I wonder where he is going, and I wonder what his business is when he is not out greeting Abram.
The Scripture tells us that he is the king of Salem, but it also tells us that he is a priest of the most high God. Which brings up another question: How did he find out about “the most high God”? Melchizedek describes God as the most high God, which means the Creator of heaven and earth. In other words, the living God, the God of Genesis 1, the God of Noah, and the God of Enoch. This is the One true God that this king, named Melchizedek, is the priest of.
Click on the link below to hear a message that gives us the answers to these questions. Learn that the Bible describes Melchizedek as a type of Christ, or an illustration of Christ. Melchizedek compares to Christ in that the Lord Jesus comes out of eternity, and He moves into eternity. He has no beginning and no end. He is the beginning. He is the end. You can’t go beyond Christ in the past, and you can’t go beyond Him in the future. He encompasses all of time, and all of eternity.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
HOW TO MEND A BROKEN FAITH-PART II (Gensis 12:1 to 13:4)
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
I want you to imagine yourself being in the Biblical school of faith, and that’s a wonderful school, and if the truth were told, many of us have been in that school for a very long time. The fact is that we often have to go back for some remedial training. There are also times when God has decided to hold us back for a grade or two. In fact, I am not too sure that I will ever officially graduate from the school of faith. Amen?
Now, why is that? It is because sometimes we don’t make very good grades. And I want to talk to you today about “How to Mend a Broken Faith,” because there are just times that we don’t do all that good in God’s school of faith. Yet, this faith is so important for us to have in order to be successful in living the victorious Christian life.
Ask yourself, did you once walk with God, but now you wonder why you’re even in church on Sunday morning because you’re so far away from God? Do you remember how it was when God was real to you?
Ask yourself another question. Was there ever a time where God was nearer, dearer, and sweeter, to you than He is right now? If so, you’re backslidden. Just remember what it was like, how sweet it was, when you walked with the Lord. Let God bring you back to His house. You say, “Bro. Keith, how can I get right with God? Where can I find God?” You’ll find him right where you left Him. You don’t have to guess at it. You get on your knees, on your face, and God will show you. Go back to your first love.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how to mend your broken faith. First, there must be repentance, then remembrance, and then restoration. If you want to mend your faith, just gave it all back to Jesus, and the Lord will cleanse you and restore your faith.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Monday Mar 20, 2023
A LIFE WITHOUT FEAR (Hebrews 13:5-6)
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Monday Mar 20, 2023
A LIFE WITHOUT FEAR (Hebrews 13:5-6)
When the old mapmakers were drawing ancient maps, they did not know what we know today. They didn’t have global positioning satellites. They could not see the world from outer space, and they would make maps of what they knew. But there was much that they did not know, and when they would come to the edge of their knowledge, they would often write something like this: “Beyond this, there may be dragons.” And, if you will look at some of the old maps, you will see the sea monster in the ocean right alongside those words. This is because man has an innate fear of the future, and of the unknown. The fear of the future is a foe that we all face. Whether we are young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, we wonder about what is going to happen. Fear has no racial bias. It’s endemic to all people.
There is a fear of where our country is heading. There is a fear of the persecution of Christians that is occurring as our country, and world, move further and further away from the Biblical values of God, and God Himself. There is fear of the violence that is occurring all around us. There is a fear of financial loss and the inability to pay the bills that are sitting on your table at home. There is a fear of disease and failing health in a world filled with cancer and pandemics. These are just a few of the things that we face in an uncertain future, and yet, God wants us to have a future without fear. As a matter of fact, God has not only admonished us, but God has commanded us, not to fear.
Click on the play button to hear a message that will teach you how to live a life free of fear.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
CHASTENED BY A LOVING GOD (Hebrews 12:5-15)
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
Sometimes we are chastened by God. The word chastening is a Bible word that means child discipline. God loves you enough to discipline you. Now, you may not appreciate it now, but according to the Scripture, the time will come when you will bless the Lord that He loved you enough to chastise you.
God’s chastisement comes when we disobey the Lord, and as a result, we get into trouble because of our disobedience. Many times, when this chastisement comes, we fail to remember the exhortation that God has given us in both the Old and the New Testament, which says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.”
Did you know that God is more interested in you being holy than He is you being healthy? Did you know that God is more interested in you being holy than He is you being happy? God is more interested in you being holy than He is you being wealthy.
God’s plan for you, primarily, is not even to take you to heaven. Now, I’m going to heaven, but that’s a fringe benefit. God’s plan is for you to be holy. Do you have a desire to be holy? If not, He may carry you to the woodshed and develop that desire in you, and that will be for your profit.
Click on the play button above to hear a message on how a loving God chastises those who are His.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Feb 19, 2023
WHEN FAITH SEEMS TO FAIL (Hebrews 11:32-40)
Sunday Feb 19, 2023
Sunday Feb 19, 2023
WHEN FAITH SEEMS TO FAIL (Hebrews 11:32-40)
What happens when faith seems to fail? Sometimes we pray, and God doesn’t seem to answer our prayer the way we wanted. Maybe we’re going to have an outdoor event, and we say, “Lord, give us beautiful weather,” and the storms come and chase us back indoors. Has that ever happened to you? I mean, it turns everything into a swamp, but you prayed and asked God for it to be a bright sun-shiny day. Sometimes you pray, “Lord, I want to marry that person. Give them to me as a spouse,” and instead, they marry your best friend. You say, “Lord, how could you? I prayed and I had faith.”
Then, on a more serious note, sometimes we have a loved one who is sick, and we come to God, and we say, “Oh, God, heal my child. Lord, heal my wife. Heavenly Father, touch with Your healing hand,” and they don’t get better; they get worse, and it seems like some greedy malady is just eating away at those that we love the best, and we see them wind down to the grave. And we’ve tried to believe, we’ve tried to trust, and faith seems to fail. As a result, we are ready just to throw in the towel, and say, “What’s the use? It’s not working.” Have you ever been there? If not, then just hold on, because your time is coming that you will be.
There are times that come where the answer doesn’t come exactly as we think that it ought. Sometimes trials, temptations, tribulations, heartaches, tears, fears—they come, and faith doesn’t seem to remove them.
Click on the play button at the top of this episode to hear a message on how you can have a mature faith. Many people have a superficial faith, and a superstitious faith, rather than a strong faith, and a spiritual faith, and a biblical faith. So, if you’re about ready to throw in the towel, if you prayed for your child and your child didn’t get well, and you’re ready to quit coming to God and to church, then I want you to listen to this message.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
LEARNING TO LEAN ON GOD (Hebrews 11:21)
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
LEARNING TO LEAN ON GOD (Hebrews 11:21)
Many of us think that self-sufficiency is a virtue, and at many a high school graduation ceremony, there will be speakers telling young people to learn to be self-sufficient. The truth of the matter is that self-sufficiency is not a virtue; spiritually, it is a vice. In fact, if you are a follower of Christ, then God is working on you. God is working on each of us, and He will not be finished with us until our total, complete dependency is not on self, but on Him.
In our message today, Jacob tells God, “Lord, I trust you, but …” Have you ever done that? “Lord, I trust you, but, Lord, I don’t trust You completely. And now, Lord, You help me out. But Father, You know, I’ve got to rig this thing first and you just make my efforts work.” But that is not the way God works. Did you know that God likes broken things? Men throw broken things away, but God never really ever uses anything until He first breaks it. David said, in the Psalms, “A broken and a contrite spirit thou wilt not despise, O God.” Most of us are not being used of God because we’ve never been broken.
One of these days, if God breaks you and you become broken bread and poured out wine, God can use you. God took a little lad’s lunch, and broke it, and fed the multitudes. Mary took an alabaster box of ointment, and she broke it, and lavished her love upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Jeremiah said, “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among the thorns.” You’ll never have the crop you ought to until you put the plow in, until the old clods are broken. Even the Lord Jesus Christ took that Last Supper and said, “This is my body which is broken for you.” Men throw broken things away. God never ever uses anything or anybody until they’re first broken.
Click on the link below hear a message on how Jacob loved God, and he had to be delivered from his self-sufficiency. He had to learn how to lean on Jesus.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Monday Oct 31, 2022
HAS YOUR FAITH BEEN TESTED? (Hebrews 11:17-19)
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
God is going to give you some trials, some tests, to see if your faith is real. Not for Him to know anything about your faith, for He already knows all about your faith, but for you to know that your faith is real and that it can be trusted no matter what. Warren Wiersbe said that “A faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted.”
Tests, and trials, and temptations come in two kinds. The devil solicits us, tempts us to do evil, to cause us to stumble. God tests us to do good in order to cause us to stand. What God wants to accomplish by testing us is to make our faith strong and pure. How will it be tested? It will be tested by fire. Then, what is the purpose of the testing? God is going to put your faith in the fire to purify it, to make it stand no matter what comes.
God is going to test your faith by asking you to do something that may surprise you—not by giving up the wrong things and the bad things, but by giving up the good things. It would be relatively easy if God asked us to give up the bad things, to give up lying, and stealing, and cheating, and pride—to show that we love Him. But that’s not what God is asking.
There are some things that we give up for the Lord. But the test of faith that God will give you is not what you are willing to give up for the Lord, but are you willing to give back to the Lord of the blessings that you have received. Are you able to give your blessings back to God? Not, are you willing to give up your sins for God? Are you willing to give your blessings back to God? The test of faith is not primarily between love and hate, but between two loves, those things we love dearly and that which we must love supremely.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how God wants you to be strong in faith. For without faith, it is impossible to please God.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 16, 2022
A DYNAMIC LIFE OF FAITH-PART II (Hebrews 11:8-13)
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 Sep 04, 2022
THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE-PART I (Hebrews 10:38 to 11_6)
Sunday Sep 04, 2022
Sunday Sep 04, 2022
How to live a life of faith. We live in an age where we have a lot of people who are called stars, these so-called movie stars. We have a lot of people who are called idols, these so-called sports idols. In my humble opinion, we have too many stars, and too many idols, and not enough heroes. I’m going to be talking to you today about heroes, Bible heroes.
Faith is a confidence that rests in hope. It is not a will-of-the-wisp sort of a thing. It is substance. When we live by faith, it’s not smoke and mirrors. There is, substance, there is confidence that rests in hope. The word “hope” doesn’t mean perhaps. Nor does it even mean wish. Nor does it mean desire. The word “hope,” in the Bible, means “rock-ribbed assurance based on divine revelation.” For example, the Second Coming of Jesus is called the what? The blessed hope. Now, is that the blessed maybe? No. It is rock-ribbed assurance based on the promises of the Word of God. Jesus Christ is coming again, and that is our blessed hope, our rock-ribbed assurance based on divine revelation.
Faith, therefore, is the title deed, the confidence, that what God has said is true, and God will perform it. There is no legitimate faith without hope. And there is no legitimate hope without faith. These cannot be separated. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present, and the invisible as seen.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Bible says that you are to live by faith, by a confidence that rests in hope.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.