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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 Jun 19, 2022
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ died for your sins, my sins, the whole world’s sins, and then He rose again so that we might have everlasting life if we will make Him our Lord and Savior. Jesus stands today, alive, in the Holy Tabernacle of Heaven as our Great High Priest so that our salvation will be a forever, and ever, salvation.
So, now that you are saved. Now, that you know all that Christ has done for you, what should your reaction be? What should your duty to Christ be? God answers this question with a command, not a suggestion, but a command to grow as a Christian. To become a grownup Christian.
Heb 6:1
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
KJV
It is one thing to become saved, it is another thing entirely to become a full-grown Christian. I want to put a thought in your mind, and I pray that it will bother you. I pray that it will bother you so much that it will spur you into action. I want you to write this down someplace that, every morning when you open your Bible for your quiet time, it reminds you of something very important. It says, “When I cease to be better, I cease to be good.”
Click on the link below to hear a message that says, if you have stopped growing, then you have begun decaying. Decay always begins when growth ends. The Bible says we are to go on to maturity. There is more to life than being born. A Christian is a tree planted, not a post stuck in the ground. We are commanded to grow. There is a “must” about it. The Holy Spirit of God has so much more for you to know about the grace of God, the blessings of God, and the work of God, but He cannot tell you these things until you are no longer a baby spiritually.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday May 29, 2022
Sunday May 29, 2022
Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest, that is the role that Christ is playing in our lives today. He has completed His work of salvation, and now He is in heaven as our Great High Priest.
In the Old Testament, one of the functions of the priest was to hear the confession of sins so that a sacrifice could be made to obtain forgiveness of that sin. Un-confessed sin was and is a burden upon the person who sins. However, as a believer that has made Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, in this age of grace, we know that all of our sins have already been forgiven. We already know that we will not have to face the penalty of our sin, for Christ has already done that for us. Yet, sin is still a burden on our spirit, and we are certainly told to confess our sins.
We confess our sins out of obedience and a desire for cleansing. If we do not acknowledge our sin, it becomes like a malignancy which spreads to consume our energy, our spiritual zeal, and it is always present with us draining our ambition to serve the Lord. It robs us of the joy of being in God’s will, and for the Christian, being in God’s will is the zone, it is that special place we want to be.
Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
KJV
This is telling us that we can come with great freedom unto the Throne of Grace. We can speak freely to the Lord Jesus Christ. We can tell Him things we wouldn’t tell anyone else. He already knows everything there is to know about us, so why not speak freely with Him. Christ understands us; He knows all of our weaknesses. And when we approach that throne of Grace it is so “that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” We can come with full confidence that He will hear us, and He wants to extend to us His Grace, and Mercy, when we are in a time of need.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the fact that our sin is not a secret, God sees it all, and God expects us to confess that sin. The message today is about the One who now stands in the office of High Priest, and to whom we must confess. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is the Supreme High Priest.
This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.
Amen.
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
When a man and woman are married, there is to be what is called the “The Music of Marriage.” You have the husband, or the father, who is the leader of the band. It is the father who sets tune in the home. He is the leader of the band. Now the Music of Marriage requires that there be “Harmony in the Home,” and if there is to be harmony in the home, then husbands and wives must sing the same song, but they sing different parts. That’s what makes it harmonious, and not a mere melody, but wonderful harmony.
Now, this harmonious Music of Marriage occurs when we play the part that God has equipped us to play. So, husbands and wives are singing different parts of the same song, but hopefully they are singing in the right rhythm, so they sing it together. But, the message today is on this subject: “Disharmony in the Home” I’m really talking about tension in the home, and what can we do to deal with it. How can we have the harmonious music of marriage that God wants us to have?
As a young man I tried to learn to play the guitar, and I have dabbled trying to play the piano. I was not successful in either endeavor. I can’t seem to tap my foot to keep time and play the notes at the same time, and a metronome drives me crazy. But, playing the guitar did teach me a few things besides having sore fingertips. I learned that in order for the music coming from the guitar to sound harmonious, each of the strings have to be in tune. Now, to tune those strings you have to adjust the tension on it. If the string is not tight enough, then the music is flat and dull. But, if the string is too tight, then the music is shrill and high-pitched. But if the string is even tighter, the string will snap.
One of the major obstacles to the harmonious Music of Marriage is tension in the home caused by stress and strife. Stress is related to raising your voice, to raising your pulse, and raising your children. Listen, if you’ve got children, then you have stress just built in, and being in today’s home, the string can get mighty tight, and sometimes it can snap.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how God intends for you to deal with the stress in your home, and how you can have that harmonious Music of Marriage that God wants for your home.
Amen.
Sunday May 16, 2021
Sunday May 16, 2021
This message is about a task that God has given to every born-again believer. That task is to allow the light of Jesus to shine through us to reach a dark world full of people who need to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ. What makes this challenging is that we must live our lives in such a way that brings glory to our Lord, and still avoid the sin that is around us. I believe that is one of the reasons that God has given us the book of Proverbs. To show us how to live a victorious Christian life, in a world full of sin.
God’s wisdom is the key to living in this dark world that is full of evil. Satan would like nothing better than to destroy the witness of a child of God. The world likes nothing better than to see a righteous man fall. This chapter of Proverbs is giving us the instructions from our Creator to live a victorious Christian life so that we can bring people to Christ and eternal life.
Click on the link below to hear a message on God’s instruction manual for living a life that honors God.
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 Apr 25, 2021
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
Over the last couple of weeks we have been talking about a believer’s freedom. In particular financial freedom, but the same concepts of putting Christ first in our lives, being diligent in our work for God, being generous with the blessings that God has shared with us, living with integrity, and depending on the reliability of God to meet our needs, will give us true freedom in Christ in all aspects of our lives. When we believe and trust in God, then God will take care of our needs. To be free in Christ is to be free indeed.
But does that freedom mean that we will have a life full of happy bliss, free of tragedy or testing? No, that is not what the Bible promises us. For example, being faithful to God in our tithing does not guarantee that we will never face trials. Yet, God does promise that He will give us a way through every trial, every test, and every tragedy.
Without a doubt, the best promise that God makes in His Word is that Heaven is guaranteed to be our eternal future. If you will make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, then Heaven is guaranteed to be our eternal future. I do not limit God’s fulfillment of His promises to this life only. If you do, then you will miss out on the best promise of all, for nothing compares to an eternity in Heaven with our Lord.
Click on the link below to hear a message on God’s promises to those who love Him. God promises to chastise you when you need it, to give you happiness, to give you a long life, to give you a prosperous life, a peaceful life, and eternal life. Don’t miss out on God’s promises to those who put God first in all things.
Amen.
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Can a child of God sin? Yes, they can and do, frequently. Can a child of God sin a great big sin, like breaking one of the 10 commandments? Now, before you answer that, I want you to work your way down the list of commandments, and tell me if you can break them and be a child of God? Yes, of course, they can. Then, can a child of God sin and not suffer? Absolutely not.
Today’s message is about a child of God who sinned, and sinned greatly, which makes this a very sad story. It is sad because a man whom God loved, and who truly loved God, committed not just the sin of adultery, but then he tried to cover it up by committing murder. Now those are really big sins, and David committed them.
So, not only is this a sad story, but it is also a tragic story because a man who the Bible describes as a man after God’s own heart will have to face the consequences of that sin. Make no mistake, there is always a consequence to our sin against God, and David was no exception. First, without a doubt you will suffer conviction from the Holy Spirit of God. If you sin and you don’t feel the convicting power of the Holy Spirit working on you, then you better check your salvation, because a child of God cannot sin and not suffer conviction from the Holy Spirit.
Now, if we repent of that sin and ask God for forgiveness, then He will forgive our sin. But, as we will see in this story, we may still have to face the consequences of that sin. If you are a twice-born child of God, you will not lose your salvation because you sin, even if that sin is adultery or murder, but you will face consequences in this life, and perhaps a loss of rewards in heaven.
Now, not only is this a sad and tragic story, but it is also a familiar story. People who do not love God, people who believe all Christians are hypocrites, love this story because it details the failure of a man of God. Of course, I am sure you know by now that the story in our message today is about David’s sin with Bathsheba.
Now, I want you to pay attention to this scripture that we are about to cover, and it is going to be a two-part lesson. This first week, we are going to cover the sin that David committed, and make no mistake it was a terrible sin. But, the reason I want us to pay attention to this Scripture is that next week we are going to give hope to believers who have sinned greatly. God wants you to know that no matter what you sin is, there is a way back to fellowship with Him. This is important because we all sin, even as a child of God we sin, and we need to know that this hope is there for us. We can be right with God.
Click on the link below to hear a message about a man of God who sinned greatly, and the warning in this message is that if a man as great as David can fall into sin, then so can you.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
The Bible story of David and Goliath is one of the most familiar in the Bible. You don’t even have to be a Christian to know this story. There have been books and movies, and even TV shows based on this story. Michelangelo even depicted the story on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. We are told this story from the time we are a child. The image of a young man with just five smooth stones and a sling against a giant of a man in full battle armor is iconic in Bible history. It is a story that reveals more than human bravery. It reveals that, even as a boy, David had a heart for God.
The key to this whole story is found in the fact that David didn’t volunteer to fight the giant because his people were being shamed. No, David fought Goliath because Goliath was defying the armies of the living God! David, put his faith in God. He knew that God would deliver the giant into his hands. David testified to his faith in God telling the giant “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.”
Powerful words of faith from such a young man.
David knew that it was not by chance that God had led him to this battlefield. David could say in his heart that it is not by chance that he was born into Jesse's family. It is not by chance that he had seven older brothers. It is not by chance that he had to fight for his place in the family, not with carnal weapons, but with spiritual ones. It is not by chance that I learned early to love, trust, and obey the living God. It is not by chance that God has become my constant companion and guide. It is not by chance that I learned to play the harp and write great hymns which will be sung by God's people forever. Such things do not happen by chance; they happen by choice. God chose me, and I chose Him.
It is not by chance that I became a shepherd and developed a heart for the flock. It is not by chance that God gave me courage to face the lion and the bear in the wilderness of which you speak. It is not by chance that I have great skill with a sling and a stone. That skill represents hard work and constant practice. And it is not by chance that I am not afraid of Goliath and you are. And it is not by chance that we are where we are and that we are who we are.
David learned that he could not use the weapons of this world to fight the battle. He had to use his own weapons, his own methods, those in which God had schooled him. The believer today needs to recognize that the world can be overcome only by his faith and confidence in God.
Amen.
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
Let me ask you a question, is Jesus God or man? Is Jesus God or man? Well, the answer to that question is yes. He is the God-man. He is God incarnate in man. He is God in human flesh. Now, the fact that Jesus is both God and man is absolutely foundational to our faith. There is no compromise on this fact that allows our faith to be real. The rock our faith is built on is Jesus Christ, who came to this earth as fully God, and fully man. Yet, it is this question that vexes the world, and there are so many false religions, major, world religions, that deny this is true.
The prophet Isaiah said, "Unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given..."
When Isaiah said, "a child is born," he was speaking of Christ’s humanity. When he said, "a son is given," he was speaking of Christ’s deity. Jesus Christ is the God-man. Now, as a child, He was born in Bethlehem. As God, He has ruled from eternity. But, understand this, He did not have His beginning at Bethlehem, only His birth. As a man, Christ was born to die. As God, Christ died for our sins.
Now, as I was preparing this lesson, I had to pause and think about how I envision God in my mind. So, I want you to think of God, and then think of the very first image that comes to mind. Now, notice that I am deliberately using the name God, here. Is the image you have of God, as He is described in the Bible, the baby Jesus there in the manger that we think of at Christmas time? Probably not, I just don’t think of God as a baby. He was, but that is not how I think of Him. Is it the man with white flowing hair sitting on a throne with a light so bright coming from Him that you cannot even look at Him? This is closer, right? When I think of God, I think of Him sitting on His throne. Ok, if that is not your image of God, then is it Jesus as the kind and gentle man that we see in all the portraits? Sometimes, right? But let me ask you, do you draw a distinction in your mind between God and Jesus? God is indeed a triune God, three persons, but there is just One God. All three make up the One God. So, when you think of Jesus, do think of Him as God, just as you would the Father and the Holy Spirit?
Ok, do you have the image of God in your mind, the very first image that comes to mind? Now, in that image, do you think of God, the triune God, as having scars? It just doesn’t seem to fit with our images of God, does it? Yet, those scars in the hands, feet, and side, of Jesus, the God-man, the second part of the triune God, are real, and they tell us so much about God. That is what our lesson is about today, The Scars That God Bears.
Now, it's very important that you understand this—that, as a man, Jesus suffered. When Jesus appeared before Thomas, He invited Thomas to examine those scars. They were a brute testimony to the fact that Jesus, indeed, was pierced with those hideous nails.
There is a great problem in the world today when you try to testify about God. The problem is not primarily science. The problem is not primarily history. The problem is primarily suffering. When you try to tell people about God, they will ask you again and again how can you believe in a God, if there be a God, who allows so much suffering? And this causes great doubt because here's the way the human mind works. "Well, if God is love, and God is all powerful, why does God allow so much suffering?" And so, they think well, perhaps He is a God of infinite love, but He has no power; therefore, He is a weak God. Or else He is all-powerful, but He has no love and so He is a cruel God. Or perhaps He has no power and no love, so He is no God at all.
That's the way people think. But there is a more important question that you should be asking. Not why do men suffer? No, the more important question for us to understand and consider is why does God suffer? That is the most important question that should be in your heart. Not why do we as humans suffer, but those scars tell us that God in human flesh suffered, and so why did God suffer?
Click on the link below to hear a message that tells us why God allows suffering in this world, and why God chose to suffer.
Amen.
Sunday May 24, 2020
Sunday May 24, 2020
Jesus came to this earth to reveal the true nature of the sin that is in the heart of every person. He came to show the world that there was a way out of the darkness of sin and into the light of truth and eternal life. But Jesus was judged and condemned to die on a cross by a world that did not want to come out of the darkness to have their deeds reproved. They chose darkness over light.
John 3:19-20
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
KJV
All of us face this timeless challenge and respond one way or another. Salvation, and eternal life in heaven, is not about our works, it is about what we decide to do with Jesus Christ. Just as the men who rejected Christ did, we either cry "Crucify him" or "Crown him." There is no middle ground. You can’t work your way into heaven, pay your way, or be religious enough to be saved. You must decide to crown Him Lord of your heart or crucify Jesus in your heart. Just like each of the men who put Jesus Christ on trial, you must decide to crucify an innocent man, or make Him your Savior.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Jews and the Gentiles alike rejected the one true Son of God and the free gift of salvation and eternal life that He offered them.
Amen.