The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

ARE YOU READY? (2 Cor. 12:11 to 13:3)

Are you ready?  Are you ready for Jesus to come?  If not, what are you lacking?  Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?  How will Jesus greet you, as a faithful servant, or as someone He does not know?  These are important questions that most people do not want to answer.  They think that the need to make sure they are ready is far away in some future, it may happen, time.   Listen to this podcast and learn how Paul tells us to make ourselves ready for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

DEALING WITH ADVERSITY (2 Cor. 12:5-10)

Are you dealing with true hardship in your life?

 

Have you lost your job?  Are you dealing with a terminal disease?  Is addiction controlling your life?  Are you facing divorce, or loneliness?

 

There is only one true answer to these problems, and that is Jesus Christ.  A life surrendered to Jesus as Savior and Master.  There is no other answer that will bring comfort and strength.  Jesus does not promise to make the problems go away, but He does promise believers that He will comfort them and strengthen them as they go through the hardships of life. 

 

Listen to this podcast and rejoice as you learn how the believer is to deal with adversity.

ARE YOU A CARNAL CHRISTIAN? (1 Cor. 3:1-8)

Are you a carnal Christian?   It would seem that these two words conflict with each other, for to be a Christian means that you have turned away from the things of this world and turned towards Christ.  Yet, many of our failings as Christians come from our dependence on the things of this world for satisfying our desires, confirming our self-worth, and defining our identity as a person.  We seek the approval of those around us, and we seek to meet our spiritual needs by performing religious ritual.  The apostle Paul describes this type of person as a babe in Christ.  In other words, they have not matured spiritually.   Listen to this podcast and learn if you are a carnal Christian.  The answer might surprise you.

DO YOU HAVE A MESSAGE TO SHARE? (2 Cor. 11:28-12:4)

Have you ever had a message to deliver that was worth facing difficulties and hardships to deliver?  A message so important that it is written in the blood of those that would share it with the world, and then fight to make it happen.   This is the kind of message that changes lives.  As a believer you have a message to deliver that is this important.  It is a message that can change the eternal destiny of your family, your friends, and those around you.  The question is, are you willing to share it?  Listen and rejoice as we study about the apostle Paul describe the gospel message he has been divinely appointed to deliver and about his visions of heaven.

TO KNOW SOMEONE (2 Cor. 11:21-27)

When you look at the people around you, all you can see is what they physically display.  You cannot see the experiences that have shaped them into who they are as a person.  Our first impressions of people are often lasting impressions.  Successful people dress differently than others.  Educated people speak more eloquently than others.  Poor people act with less confidence in a society that rewards only success.   The same thing applies to our churches.  Many people are misled by those preachers and teachers who boast of the credits applied to their name.  They proclaim their educational credentials, their heritage, or the churches that sent them.  Are these the things that really matter in preaching the gospel message?  Listen and rejoice as we learn that God's gospel message is simple.  It is a message of God's grace and not man's efforts to follow some set of religious ritual.  It does not need to be hidden behind fancy speeches and educated speakers.  The gospel message is so simple a child can understand it, and a broken heart can accept it.

RECOGNIZING THE WORK OF SATAN (2 Cor. 11:8-20)

Most people would not willingly choose to trust in Satan.  The Bible describes him as the father of all lies.  To be deceived by Satan is put your eternal destiny at stake.  To be deceived by Satan means that you will spend an eternity in hell away from God, instead of an eternity in heaven with Christ.  Yet, how can you discern the work of Satan from that of God?  Can you recognize the work of Satan by the outward appearances?  To have beauty on outside is often equated with truth and honesty on the inside.   To have great physical strength is perceived as being the protector of the innocent.  To be eloquent of speech appeals to the ear and projects the image of intelligence, education, and sophistication.  Those who are confident in their speech, draw those that lack the confidence of their convictions.  Recognizing the false from the truth is not easy.  Satan has been perfecting his deceptive lies for the entire history of mankind, from the Creation of man, to this day.  He knows what works, and what draws man to him.   He knows that man is an inherently religious being, so he creates attractive religions.  He knows that man finds certainty in boundaries, rules, and the predictability of ritual.  So that is what he gives them.  Yet, when man follows these religions he finds himself in bondage, bankrupt financially and spiritually, and beaten by those that would enslave them.   Listen to this podcast and find out how to discern between the work of Satan and God.

THE TRUE GOSPEL (2 Cor. 11:1-7)

How do you decide what is true and what is false?  When it comes to salvation, how do you know the true gospel from a false gospel?  When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden he was described as being subtle, or crafty.  There are many teachers who proclaim to be from God.  They cry out that they provide a gospel message of salvation.  Yet these false teachers have taken the Word of God and subtly changed it to meet their own form of religion.   They apply rules to a free gift of God.  They apply religious ritual to God's gift of grace.  They apply legalism to the gospel message of Christ that frees man from the burden of the law.   Eve faced the temptation from Satan with two weapons, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God.  Satan attacked those weapons by creating doubt about the authority of the Word of God, then he denied the accuracy of the Word of God, then he created delusion about the acceptability of the Word of God.  Satan uses these same tactics today.  Listen to this podcast and find out how to determine the true gospel message of God.  Learn how Satan is currently working in our world and how to combat him.

PAUL'S DEFENSE (2 Cor. 10:9-18)

When you are trying to judge the quality of a person, what do you use for criteria?  Is it the outward appearance of the person?  Is it the skill and polish that they are able to communicate with?  Is it the number of degrees or commendations that they have?  In this lesson Paul defends himself against the vocal minority who don't like the way he looks, or the way he talks, or even the way he writes his letters.   Listen to this podcast and learn what the apostle Paul considers to be important in judging the messenger of God.

THE WEAPONS OF GOD (2 Cor. 10:1-8)

When the world thinks of the weapons of warfare it thinks of tanks, guns, cannons, swords, and shields.  They use secular weapons to fight a secular battle. 

 

Yet the believer’s battle is not physical in nature, but spiritual.  Therefore, the believer’s weapons are very different than those used in secular battles. 

 

Listen to this podcast and learn how the believer arms themselves as they prepare to battle the powers and principalities of Satan’s world. 

 

WHAT MOTIVATES US TO GIVE (2 Cor. 9:1-15)

What is it that drives you to give a tithe or offering to God?

 

What is it that causes you to pull out your wallet and place cash in the offering plate each week?

 

Is it a sense of duty to God?

 

Do you give so you can get more in return from God?  How many times have you heard that you cannot out give God? 

 

Listen to this podcast and learn the believer’s motivation for giving to God.  Rejoice as we learn that our giving is always for our benefit.