The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

FINDING JOY IN YOUR WORK (Proverbs 14:23)

The title of the message is “Finding Joy in Your Work,” and I want to tell you, if you understand what God has to say in this message, it’s going to transform your work. It’s going to change it from boredom to blessing. It’s going to change it from monotony to meaning. It’s going to change it from drudgery to dignity. It’s going to change it from the same old grind to glory, if you understand what God has to say to us in this message today.

You see, so many people are sick and tired of what they do. I mean, they endure their work, whatever it is, they don’t enjoy their work. They think their job is meaningless. They think that some people have happy jobs, some people have exciting work, some people have thrilling things to do, but not them. They draw their breath and draw their salary. They wake up in the morning and take a bath, shave, go down, drink a cup of coffee, eat a piece of toast, scald their throat because they’re running a little late, drink their coffee too fast, then they run out and fight the traffic and get to work. It’s the same old thing day after day. Then they come home at night, take a couple of aspirins, sit down and watch the TV, discuss things with the wife, maybe putter around in the yard a little bit, then go to bed. The next day, the same old thing: nothing exciting, nothing meaningful, nothing thrilling. It just seems to be so humdrum, so meaningless.

Ok, I can already see the wheels turning in a lot of your minds because your saying, “Bro. Keith, you are a little late with this lesson because I am retired.  I don’t have to work anymore.”  If that is what you are thinking, then shame on you.  Did you know that God doesn’t have a retirement program for Christian believers?  If you are a Christian, and you are still breathing, then God has work for you to be doing.  If that were not true, then God would have taken you to heaven.  So, if you are still here, then God has work for you to do.  Now, I am not talking about religious work, I am talking about God’s work, whatever God calls you to do.

Now, there are others who might be saying, “Bro. Keith, I don’t work at a regular job, I just stay at home taking care of my family.”  Let me tell you that the work that a wife and a mother does taking care of her family is one of the most important jobs there is in this world.  The greatest God-given role of a mother is pointing her children to Christ. The greatest desire of a mother who loves Jesus, is that her kids come to know Jesus as their Lord and savior, and then live their lives for Him.  Just imagine, you get to partner with God in the daily discipleship of your children and in leading them towards a saving and sanctifying knowledge of the truth.

The same can be said for a wife, and about the love and support that she gives to her husband.  Once the kids are gone, some women can feel that their purpose is over.  But that is simply not what the Bible tells us.  Just as the husband is to help his wife be all that she wants to be in the eyes of God, it is the wife's responsibility to help the husband become all that God wants him to be.  

The point that I am trying to make is that it doesn’t matter if you are a widow, a retiree, 25 or 85 years old, single, married, or working every day at a job place, God has work for you to be doing, and this lesson is about finding joy in that work.

Click on the link below to hear a message about how to have joy in the work that you do for God.

Amen.

TRUE RICHES-PART II (Proverbs 13:7)

Everybody wants to be wealthy, but God tells us that there are different kinds of riches.  There are true riches and there are false riches.  True riches are the things that you have that when you share them, they increase.  They become more.  False riches, are the things that when you try to share them, they decrease.  Anything that is of real value, anything that is of lasting value, anything that is a treasure in heaven—the more I give of it, the more I have of it. But with false riches, you hold on to them because if you give them away, then you have less.

If you want to know how rich you are, then add up everything that you have that money cannot buy and death cannot take away—then you will know how rich you are. 

You see, with the riches of this world, if I think you’re trying to take what I have from me, it’s going to make me miserable.  But if I have something that I want you to have, it’s going to make me happy to give it to you.  With true riches, you’re not trying to keep everyone else from getting it.  True riches are the kind of riches that I can share; and the more I give to you, the more I have for me. Isn’t that wonderful?

A man is impoverished if he is not rich toward God, if he does not have riches in heaven, if he has not made deposits in that safe deposit box in the glory.

Prov 11:4
4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
KJV

Who is our righteousness? Christ is our righteousness.  Why is that important?  Because it is the righteousness of Christ that “delivereth from death.”  If you want to live for eternity with Christ in heaven, then you need Jesus Christ in your heart.  Then, Solomon says, “riches profit not in the day of wrath.”  What does that mean? It means that no matter how much money you have in the vault, you’re going to die. 

There’s a life to live; there’s a death to die, and there’s a judgment to face. 

It means that you will not be able to bribe the Judge that you stand before on that Judgment Day that all men will face.  You’ll not buy God off. You’ll not buy your way into heaven. When you die a Christless death and stand before the Great White Throne of Judgment of Jesus Christ, your money is not going to profit you one little bit.

True riches are the things that you have that when you share them, they increase.  They become more.  The thing that is of most value, the thing that has the most lasting value, the thing that is a treasure in heaven, and the thing that I most want to give to my children are the true riches of God.  And the more true riches that I give of it to them, the more I have of it.  That doesn’t mean that they will all take that inheritance and make it their own, but it does mean that you have given them the key to having true riches.  Loving God.   

2 Cor 8:9
9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
KJV

This means that Jesus Christ died for you, that you might be rich, and the Bible says,

Rom 10:12
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
KJV

This is God’s way to real wealth.  If you will call upon Jesus Christ today, then you will have true riches.  Based on the Word of the almighty God, I can promise you that this is true.  God’s way to True Riches, riches that will last for an eternity, is to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him your Lord and Savior.

Amen.

TRUE RICHES (Proverbs 13:7)

Everybody wants to know how to be wealthy God’s way.  In our messages over the next couple of weeks, we are going to find out about how to be wealthy. As a matter of fact, many of you may be wealthier than you realize, and some of you may not be nearly as wealthy as you think that you are.  Today, we will put everything in perspective as we talk about “True Riches.”

Now, I know, when I’m talking to you about money, I’m talking to you about something very pertinent—something that every one of us is interested in, and we ought to be. Somebody once said, “The most vital nerve in the body is the one that runs from the heart to the pocketbook.” And sometimes we seem to be so sanctified, but yet when it comes to money, we’re not really as sanctified as we act like we are.  I found a poem that describes the way we often are.

I once knew a Baptist; he had a pious look,
He had been totally immersed, except his pocketbook.
He placed a dollar in the plate and sang with might and main,
“When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain”
—AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Now, I believe there are some like that today, who really tend to love the Lord, at least outwardly, but inwardly there’s another love, an inordinate love for the material things of this world.  So, we’re going to be talking about true riches, and the measure of a man is what that man thinks about money. You tell me about money, and I’ll tell you something about your character. I’ll also tell you something about your faith. Stewardship is that area of life, not only where man makes money, but where God makes men. So, we’re going to be talking about this matter of real riches, or true riches.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the different kinds of riches that God’s Word tells us about. Some riches are not riches at all. 

Amen.

 

GOD‘S MIRACLE MEDICINE (Proverbs 12:25; 15:13-15; 17:22)

We live in a world where a lot of people, including our Christian brothers and sisters, are living with a heavy heart.  The world has taken a pause this weekend to remember all of the of the people who were lost in the terrorist attack on 9/11.  The families of the soldiers and first responders who lost their lives responding to the attack over the last 20 years are dealing with the loss of their loved ones.  There is sorrow, worry, and stress that is weighing down on all of these people, and our lesson today is about God’s Miracle Medicine for people with heavy hearts.

Have you ever heard of a medical term called E.I.I?  E.I.I. stands for “emotionally induced illness.” That is, people are sick physically, but their emotions have made them ill.  Now, I had never heard of this term before, so of course, I went out on Google, the source of all untruth, and searched for articles on it, and there was quite the list.  Some described it as “A psychosomatic illness that originates from or is aggravated by emotional stress and manifests in the body as physical pain and other symptoms.”  Other articles just talked about the real physical effects of long-term stress on the body.  

In our message today, I want to give you a little G.M.M., or “God’s miracle medicine.”  I believe that God is leading me to teach us what God has to say about this idea of the impact our emotions can have, good or bad, on our health.  God tells us: 

Prov 17:22
22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
KJV

You see, right there in God’s Word, we learn that “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”  That is God’s Miracle Medicine.  A Christian without joy, a joyless Christian, is a contradiction in terms. Someone has well said, “A religion that wears grave clothes ought to be buried.” I say amen to that. 

Click on the link below to hear a message where God tells us in His Word that true joy is found in the Lord Jesus, and “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” I want to share it with you today. I want you to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And for all that E.I.I. that is weighing your heart down, I want you to take a good dose of G.M.M, God’s miracle medicine. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”

Amen.

A WISE MAN AND A FOOL (Proverbs 10:8-17)

The word "fool" is used 66 times in the King James Version of the Bible.  It appears 57 times in the Old Testament, and only 9 times in the New Testament.  37 out of those 66 times, it is used is in the book of Proverbs.  Suffice it to say that God was trying to get the message across about the consequences of being a fool.  

The word "fool" is translated from different Hebrew and Aramaic words that have various meanings.  Generally, it is speaking of someone who is perverse, morally deficient, a scoffer, and evil.  These are not just people who are slow-minded, as some might think.  No, these are people who have deliberately chosen to reject God’s Wisdom.  

They can be the intellectuals of the world who scoff at anyone who believes in God, to the corrupt businessman who steals from his customers.  They can be the friends in your social circle who try to get you to join them in the type of behavior that God has commanded that you do not participate in.  They will ridicule you for your moral and ethical values which are based on the Word of God, calling you Mr. Goody-two-shoes, kill-joy, and generally anything that means you are putting a damper on their fun, and that you are the simple-minded one because you refuse to party.  By-the-way, if this is what you close circle of friends are like, you need better friends.  It would be better to have no friends, than to have friends who would lead you away from what God wants you to do.  

Being careful about who you associate with is usually advice that we think of giving to younger people than to us older, wiser, people.  But, it is true of us as well.  Friends, even Christian friends, can lead you away from doing the things God wants you to do.  Satan, would like nothing better than to create division in the church from the gossip that happens out in the commons area before church or Bible Study begins, the false teachings from teachers and preachers, to the envy and jealousy over who gets to do what in the church.  Now, there is nothing wrong with good fellowship, which we ought to have.  But, there are wolves in sheep’s clothing among every church group. 

Click on the link below to hear a message about the contrast between living our lives applying God’s Wisdom and living it foolishly rejecting that wisdom.  One leads to eternal life, the other to eternal death.

Amen.  

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL (Proverbs 9:13-10:7)

For the last several weeks, we have been studying about the virtues of God’s Wisdom.  We have talked about the character of God’s Wisdom, the majesty of God’s Wisdom, how to find God’s Wisdom, and then last week we talked about how to apply God’s Wisdom to our lives.  I think it is safe to say that God intends for us to use His Wisdom as we do the work that He has for us to do.  God drives this point home in our message today where He contrasts the differences between good and evil.  A good example of this is the contrast between a wise son and a foolish son.

Proverbs 10:1
1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
KJV

Do you see the contrast here?  “A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.”  You have the wise son and the foolish son, and the impact they have on the family.  

Now, many parents have understood the truth of this proverb. It describes the experience of a loving set of parents when their son, who is likely in his teenage years, goes through a rebellious phase and, as a result, he goes seriously wrong.  The young man may have run away from home, experimented with alcohol and drugs, and he ends up getting arrested, and is likely headed to jail.  The young man has rebelled against parental discipline, chose his friends from a worldly crowd, and had no use for preachers who have their own faults, or the church full of hypocrites.  He especially does not want to hear the Wisdom of God’s Word.

Solomon says that such “a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.”  This means that the son’s actions drive the mother into a state of depression.  You can imagine the feelings of doom and gloom in the hearts of both of the son’s parents, but it especially impacts the mother.  Of course, the devil is having a heyday with all of this.  That is when the mother becomes convicted and asks the Lord for help, both for her and her wayward son.  She wears out the rug on her knees as she prays.  After perhaps months, or even years, of these nights spent in prayer with a broken heart, there comes a day, when late that night, the son comes stumbling into the house after a night of partying.  He sees his mother there, on her knees, talking to the Lord Jesus about her son.  He might even pause to listen to her cries for help, and see her tears fall down her cheeks.  

Sometimes, the son is impacted by this image of his mother praying over him, and other times it pushes them even further out.  But, I still believe there is nothing stronger than a mother’s prayer for her children.  Sometimes, that rebellious son will be so impacted by what he sees that he chooses to return and be saved.  It is then, that the foolish son becomes the wise son, and Solomon tells us, “A wise son maketh a glad father.”  A wise son is a blessing to both of his parents.

In this life one of two things happens to us. Either our sins get blotted out, or our names get blotted out. There can be no greater horror for a man than to wake up in a lost eternity to the terrible realization that his name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life.  If he had but chosen to make Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior, if he had been redeemed, then his name would have been written in the Lamb’s book of life to be remembered for Christ’s sake forever.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on God’s Wisdom of living an honorable life that is pleasing to God.

Amen.  

HOW TO APPLY GOD‘S WISDOM (Proverbs 9:1-12)

HOW TO APPLY GOD’S WISDOM (PROVERBS 9:1-12)

In today’s world, YouTube is a source of information of just about anything you want to know.  The problem is that 95% of it is done by people who think a lot more highly of themselves than they should.  In fact, most of it is just useless information.  If you are looking for the truth, it takes a lot of work to sort the wheat from the chaff, just to find a simple nugget of man’s wisdom. In fact, most times I walk away without an answer to my question.

However, my experience with the Bible, which is God’s Wisdom, has been quite different. The Bible is the bountiful table that Wisdom spreads. I find more help, insight, and instruction, and more practical, reliable, down-to-earth counsel in a half-dozen verses of the Word of God than in all the videos that can be found on YouTube put together. I never sit down to Wisdom’s table and come away feeling empty.

Wisdom and knowledge are by nature cumulative. We learn by adding to what we already know. For example, as a child we begin by learning the alphabet. Then we learn to recognize and pronounce simple words. After that we use complex words. We add words to our vocabulary. We put sentences together and learn laws of grammar. We learn to write and compose paragraphs.

In mathematics we learn to count, to add up simple sums, and then to figure more complex sums. We learn how to subtract, how to multiply, and how to divide. We learn how to handle fractions, decimals, and square roots. We go on to geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. Moreover, we learn from our mistakes. When a teacher marks answers as being wrong, we do not just shrug our shoulders; we rework the problems until we get them right.

People who refuse to learn from their mistakes not only continue to make the same mistakes; they compound them. People who are wise, accept instruction and increase in learning. They find out where they went wrong, what they did wrong, and why. The same principles that enable us to add to our knowledge in the secular world, enables us to add to our Wisdom when it comes to living the life that God wants us to live.  We continue to grow in God’s Wisdom as we live a life of faith in Jesus Christ.  We add to that Wisdom as we suffer through tragedy and God responds to our needs.  We add even more to that knowledge as we study the Word of God.  We choose to accept God’s Wisdom.

How do we apply God’s Wisdom in our lives?  We hear Wisdom’s call.  We receive God’s Wisdom into our hearts and apply it to every decision that we make, and we share that wisdom with those who the Holy Spirit leads us to.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how we apply God’s Wisdom to our lives.

Amen.  

HOW TO FIND GOD (Proverbs 8:27-36)

Gods’ wisdom is evident everywhere in God’s creation.  The promise of God’s Word is that if we seek Him, then we will find Him, and when we find Him, then we will obtain life everlasting.  

Deut 4:29
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
KJV

God is not hiding from us.  He can be seen in all the wonders of the world we live on.  

Rom 1:20
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
KJV

Then, when we find God, we find life everlasting.

Prov 8:35
35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
KJV

There is a God sized hole in every individual.  We were created to have God living in us to fill that hole.  You can spend your entire life trying to fill that hole with the things of this world, but you will never be satisfied, you will never be complete, until you find God and make His Son, Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior.  Now, all you have to do to find God, is to seek Him with all of your heart.  

Where do you look for God?  God’s Wisdom tells us that God is all around us in the universe that He has created.  God’s Wisdom is available to be seen and found by whosoever chooses to love God and seek Him.  God promises that if we will love and seek Him, then we will find Him and find life.  

Amen.  

THE MAJESTY OF GOD‘S WISDOM (Proverbs 8:14-26)

God’s Wisdom is available to us through the words that we find in the Bible, and the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit as He helps us to interpret God’s Words and apply them to our lives.  God’s Wisdom is not hard to find.  It cries out to us in every sermon given by a preacher who loves the Lord and is anointed by the Holy Spirit to teach God’s Word.  But the most important place we hear God’s Wisdom is when we let His Word, the God-breathed, divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, and wholly dependable Word of God, speak to us and apply it to our lives.  

There is no other book available to man that holds the words of eternal life.  The Bible is unique because it contains a distillation of the wisdom of God concerning the children of men.  Such a book is a mystery to most because they are spiritually blind and deaf.  Yet, the meaning of these words is available to anyone.  There is no secret club that you must join.  No school tuition that must be paid.  God has promised to send His Spirit to speak to those who wish to learn who God is, what He has done for them, and then make Him their Lord and Savior.  

John 16:13
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
KJV

When a person makes Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior, then the Holy Spirit of God will come and live in the heart of that person.  It is then, that the person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit has the capacity to understand the Word of God.  This is the Wisdom that we can apply in our lives, and we know that it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Prov 8:17
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
KJV

This is one of the most profound and comforting messages in the Bible.  Right here in God’s Word, He promises that He “loves them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”  This says, if we love God, and we seek His wisdom, then we have the promise of the Word of God that we will find Him.  

The wisdom of God is seen in creation—and in redemption too. Before time began, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit planned both creation and redemption. 

In the wisdom of God, creation was to be the stage on which God would display His power. 

Rom 1:20
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
KJV

In the wisdom of God, redemption was to be the stage on which God would display His love.

Eph 2:4-6
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
KJV

Click on the link below to hear a message on how we see the majesty of God’s Wisdom in creation and redemption.  

Amen.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD‘S WISDOM (Proverbs 8:1-13)

Our message today is about the characteristics of God’s Wisdom.  The things about God’s Wisdom that makes it so beneficial and good for our lives.  

During the week as I work on these messages, I sit in an office at home that is mostly quiet.  My wife doesn’t make much noise, and there are no kids living with us anymore to make a racket.  The only real noisemakers are our dogs, and one in particular, that cannot stand to have people walking up and down the sidewalk in front of our house.  He especially can’t stand it when a package is delivered to the front door.  So, for most of the time that I am studying, it is real quiet.  Sometimes too quiet and I will turn on a selection of piano solos of hymns in the background to give a little bit of noise to focus my mind.  

I have learned that most of us can operate at two levels of thought, one of direct focus, and another in the background.  For example, most of us can have an instructor behind us walking us through how to do something while we concentrate on the task at hand. However, if a third person tries to talk at the same time, we cannot manage it.  For me, I can be focused on studying and composing the lessons with God speaking as my instructor, but in the background, the activity of the day wants to intrude on my mind and distract me.  So, I will play a selection of piano solos of the old hymns that I grew up with and love so much.  I don’t have to concentrate on them because I know them so well, and they don’t distract me, but they do help to shut out the events of the day that are trying to distract and take over my mind.  It is like having God speaking to me through His word and His music at that same time.  It fills up my two levels of thought and I can study.

Now, I study very differently than how my father did.  He used books and hand wrote everything.  I do all of my work on a computer.  I hand write very little.  All of my notes are on the computer.  I have 26 versions of the Bible on the computer.  I have all of my reference material, commentaries, inter-linear Bibles, sermons, Greek and Hebrew translations on the computer.  They are all available to me at the touch of a button.  Yet, that same computer puts at my disposal all the news of the day, entertainment, and connection with my friends and family via the airwaves and the internet.  All in a machine that I work on in my quiet office, in my quiet home.  Often the only sound is the clicking of the keys as I type.

It is all available to me, but as I type my lessons, I’m not even aware that all of that communication and entertainment is there. If the music gets too loud or distracting, I can turn the volume down, or up, or even off.   

Yet, I also have a different kind of receiver in my room. The highest and holiest wisdom is as close as that computer, but it is not on that computer.  This different receiver sits on a table right next to me and it is my old Bible.  The one my parents gave to me 40 years ago as a graduation gift.  It is still very special to me.  The Bibles on my computer are just study tools, there is nothing special about them, I never use them to really open my mind to God.  However, there is just something special about being able to reach out my hand and take up that Book of books, turn its pages, and open my heart and mind to the words of the Holy Spirit. The wisdom of the Word—the revealed and inspired wisdom of the living God—is right there in my room.  God’s Wisdom is never farther away than that Book.  It calls to each of us.  It says, “Unto you, O men, I call.”  God speaks to me when I listen to the words found in His book and apply them to my heart.

God’s Wisdom says that “All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.”  All the words of the God’s book are inspired by God, they are true, righteous, and nothing twisted can be found in them.  We may not understand all of the Bible, and we may not always interpret it properly. Nevertheless, every word of the Bible is God-breathed, divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, and wholly dependable. All of God’s words are righteous. All of God’s words are right. We may not like them, and we may not want to obey them, but they are right.

The Scriptures contain unfathomable depths. How could it be otherwise when the words are those of an infinite God? A man can study the Bible all his life and still feel he has but touched the fringe of Inspiration’s garment. At the same time a little child can read and understand the Bible. It is that simple.

There is enough truth in the Word of God to save a soul and truth enough to occupy the sharpest mind for a lifetime.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the characteristics of God’s Word.

Amen.