The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

WIDSOM CRIES OUT TO YOU (Proverbs 1:23-33)

In our message today, Solomon discusses wisdom.  The interesting thing is that while we think of wisdom as something we obtain or achieve, Solomon describes wisdom as a person.  A person who cares for you and wants to teach you and guide you.  But most of all, the image that we are given is that of someone issuing a warning to those who are headed down a path that will lead to their destruction.  

It is like the lighthouse that shines its light out to the ships to warn them of dangerous reefs or shoals.  It reminds me of the old-time railroad switchmen who would signal trains with a green or yellow light to signal that all was well on the tracks, or a red light when there was danger ahead, like a bridge being out.  I think of wisdom as that switchman standing by the tracks with his red signal light, just to watch the train speed on by ignoring his signal.  I think of the tragedy of the people on board that train who will die because the train engineers disdained the warning from the switchman in their arrogance and pride.  

This is what our lesson is about today, God has given us His wisdom, in the form of His living Word, and it cries out to us to stop heading down a path to our certain destruction.  People ignore the cries of God, they disdain those who share His word, and they will lead themselves, and their families, friends, and loved ones to tragedy because of their own pride and arrogance.

Wisdom looks at the simple, the scornful, and the foolish.  She cries out to them, but these people cannot be bothered with wisdom.  They are so wrapped up in the world around them, that they do not have time to stop, look, and listen to her words of life.  Having money is more important than listening.  Succeeding at their job is more important than listening.  Going to school is more important.  Life in this world is demanding, keeping up with the Jones’ is hard, keeping the family fed, the clothes washed, the car running, and the dogs walked and fed, is hard.  There is no time to stop to look at some person standing by the road shining her red warning light, and listen to their words of life.  So, they go on in their self-centered, pride, and arrogance.  

The days of our lives are short and hurried.  During these days, we search for the answers to many of life’s most important questions.  If we are wise, then we discover that, apart from divine wisdom, we have no satisfying answers to any of these questions of life: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? What is life all about? Why is evil so prevalent and triumphant? Is there life beyond death? Is there a God? How can God be known? 

Only the wisdom contained in the Bible can answer these questions with the wisdom of the Creator of all things.  Foolish answers to these questions are plentiful, but they are all wrong to a greater or lesser degree. Wisdom stands, calls, and is disregarded, so she reproves us of our foolishness for listening to the answers of man.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how wisdom stands by the roadway at the intersection of the broad way and the narrow way.  She is holding her warning light out to those who will heed her words.  Each of us have a choice, to follow God’s Wisdom or reject it.  The consequences of that choice have eternal implications.

Amen.

TO BE A FATHER-PART II (Proverbs 1:20-22)

This is the second message in a two-part series on the role of a father in the direction that a child will go as they get older, and our message today will be about the way parents can raise a child who is wise and loves God.  

Certainly, we would like to think that every parent, every father, loves their child and wants what is best for them.  And as believers, we want to believe that the deepest desire of every parent, every father, is that their children will love God with all of their hearts.  

But unfortunately, not all children have the benefit of loving parents.  Sometimes children are caught up in the mistakes and the pride and the arrogance of their parents, and more often than not it is the pride and arrogance of the father.  Sometimes it is the mother, or even both, but more often than not it is the father.

So, what happens to that child who was not taught by their parents to love God?  There is an evolution of that child into becoming someone who does not know the love that God has for them.  They become someone who lives their life without God.  The really sad thing is that they never learn what it means to have eternal life with God in Heaven.  

But that is not the way that child starts out.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  That is where a godly father, and a godly mother, come into the picture.  It is their responsibility to teach that child what it means to love God with all of their heart.  Now, the fact is that, ultimately, it is the child who must choose to accept or reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Even with the best of parents, that child still has to make their own choice, and some don’t choose Christ.  But as parents, we can have tremendous impact on the path that child will take.

Click on the link below to hear a message on what it takes to raise a child who loves God with all of their hearts.  

TO BE A FATHER (Part I)(Proverbs 1:20-22)

One of the greatest blessings that God has bestowed on me is that I am the father of two godly sons.  The fact that they both love God and serve Him is not a testament to anything that I have done, but to the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  They were also blessed with the love of a truly wonderful mother.  That undying love that she has for them has shaped them in many ways.  Now, it is true that I have loved them both with all of my heart since I held them in my arms on the day they were born.  It is also true that our deepest desire for our children was that they loved God with all of their hearts.  

Unfortunately, not all children have the benefit of loving parents.  Sometimes children are caught up in the mistakes and the pride and the arrogance of their parents, and more often than not it is the pride and arrogance of the father.  Sometimes it is the mother, or even both, but more often than not it is the father.

There are many children who are going to be shipwrecked because of the pride and the arrogance of their fathers, who willingly choose not to guide those children into a safe and secure haven.  Those fathers will shipwreck their own lives, and then the lives of their children who will suffer in their own ignorance because their father did not teach them the ways of God.  

You might ask, “Well what about the mother, isn’t she just as responsible?”  Yes, but the Bible is clear that the father is to be the major teacher of the family.  But, when the father doesn’t perform that role, whether it is because he is lost and does not know God, or he is too proud and arrogant to do so, or he just isn’t there anymore, then the mother has to step in.  But, God gives the role of the spiritual leader of the home to the father.

Our message today is on how To Be a Father, and it is part I of a two-part series.  In this first part I am going to describe what happens when a father fails to teach his child.  We are going to talk about what happens to that child as a result of that father’s failure.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on what happens when we do not teach our children.  When a father, who is so wrapped up in his own life, who is so proud and arrogant that he does not love God, and does not wish to teach his children to love God.  I hope you hear my words today, and I pray that you will not let this happen to your children.

Amen.

ARE YOU PREPARED? (Proverbs 1:10-19)

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.

HOW TO RAISE KIDS WHO WILL COUNT FOR GOD (Proverbs 1:7-9)

I am always amazed at the wisdom of God.  There are times that I don’t always understand what God is doing, but that is ok, because God doesn’t need my understanding.  One area that I think about is the fact that most people are parents when they are young, full of energy, and make no mistake they need that energy to chase after those kids, but they lack the wisdom that it takes to be a really good parent.  You see, we tend to gain more wisdom as we get older, but it is when we are young that we need that wisdom, and raising kids is one of those times.  

Now, my wife is a terrific mother.  She has dedicated herself to our boys, and nobody ever loved a child more than my wife loves our two boys and their wives, and our grandchildren.  But, I have to admit, that I could have been a better parent than I was.  It wasn’t for a lack of trying.  I just never did get a copy of the how to raise kids manual so that I could read it and know what I was supposed to do.  I had to learn on the job, just like everyone else.  Now, it is at a time like this when I realize just how ignorant I was.  There I had, available for me in His Word, a complete guide to the way God wants us to raise kids to count for Him, and I just didn’t have the wisdom to use it like I should have.

 If you are a Christian parent, one of the promises of God that you should hold dear to your heart is that, the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

Ps 112:2
2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
KJV

This is a promise that God will bless your children and make them mighty upon the earth.  The strongest desire of my heart for my kids is not that they be wealthy, not that they be famous, not that they will always be praised or whatever, but that they will love the Lord Jesus Christ and count in His cause.  I want them to be people who will count for God.  God has kept this promise in my two boys and their own families, in spite of my failings.

I thank God for Christian homes. I don’t know of anything any better than a Christian home. Your home doesn’t exist so you can do your business; your business exists so you can have your home. God ideally wants everybody to have three homes. A family home, a church home, and a heavenly home. Jesus is the greatest homebuilder. Satan is the greatest home-wrecker.  God wants you to have a family home. Now maybe you’re an orphan. Maybe you’re divorced. Maybe you’re separated. Then you need some friends that will be sort of a family to you. That’s one of the good reasons we have Bible fellowship classes in churches. But you need some kind of a family home. And then you need a church home. You need a place with your brothers and sisters in Christ. And then you need to know that you know that you know that when you die, you’re going to heaven—to the Father’s house. Now Jesus is the key to all three. You have to know the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on how to raise kids who will count for God.

Amen.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS (Proverbs 1:1-6)

Whenever I get ready to teach, or study, a book of the Bible, and I know that I am going to be spending a lot of time in it, I try to get in my mind why God put this book in the Bible and what it is that He wants me to learn from it.  The Bible is such a marvelous book. It is so simple that a child can learn about God’s love for them, and it is so deep that a person can spend their entire life plumbing it depths and barely get below the surface. I love the Word of God, because it allows me to know the mind of God, and when I know the mind of God, I know the love of God.  There is nothing that I value more than the love that God has for me.  It sustains me, it motivates me, it guides me, and it makes me the person that I am, a servant of God.  

I firmly believe that God gave us His Word so that we might know who He is, what He has done for us, and as a result, that we might live for Him.  It is His Word that answers all of the questions that we have in this life.  It is His Word that grounds me in the absolute truths about right and wrong, it establishes what good and evil are, light from dark, and it gives me the keys to living a victorious Christian life.  

So, what is it that God wants us to know from the book of Proverbs?  Why did God give us this very unusual book?  When you look at the book of Proverbs, you will find it to be an interesting collection of short, concise and forcefully expressive sayings.  Unlike our studies of the gospel of John, and the life of David, Proverbs does not even tell a story, or a series of stories.  We won’t find David slaying Goliath with five smooth stones, and we won’t find Jesus healing the sick and feeding the five thousand.  As a result, you may not consider the Book of Proverbs as a very thrilling story, but it is.  You also may want to think of the Book of Proverbs like a big collection of sayings that you might find in a Chinese cookie, but it is not.  

Click on the link below to hear a message on what God wants you to know about the book of Proverbs, and how it can give you the answers to many of your questions about life.  

Amen.

ARE YOU A LOST CHURCH MEMBER (1 Kings 2:1-6)

Let me ask you a question, how particular is the devil in how he gets someone to go to hell?  He is not particular at all, right?  In fact, he would just as soon send you to hell from the church pew as he had from the gutter. It makes no difference to him.  In fact, I think it gives him a sense of satisfaction when he can so easily deceive all of those church members into thinking they are going to heaven, just because they have their names on the membership role, and they go to church most Sundays.  

Now, there are people today who believe in Christ, I mean, you believe it in your head. You believe the facts of the gospel. You believe that Jesus is the Savior. You believe that Jesus is Sovereign. And you believe that Jesus is Sufficient, and yet you are as lost as you can be.  There is still something wrong with you, and that is you have a lack of genuine love for Jesus.

Now, let me give you the acid test for your salvation today.  I want you to look down deep in your heart and ask yourself, Do you love Jesus, and thereby love those whom Jesus loves?

Let tell you something very important, there are great number of people who identify themselves as Christians, and they have their name written on the church roll, yet they do not have their names written down in glory.  They have never been born again.  Paul describes them as having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.  It is possible to be loyal but lost, religious but rejected. Many are going to go to hell surrounded by baptismal certificates and receipts for church offerings.  Yet, at the end, Jesus is going to hand you over for judgment, because you have never been saved.

Now, I’m not trying to make you doubt your salvation, but the Bible says (1 Corinthians 11:28) “Let a man examine himself, whether he be in the faith.”  So, I am asking you to examine yourself, and ask are you saved? I mean, are you saved? Have you fully surrendered yourself to the will of Jesus Christ?  Please do not go away without Jesus. Don’t let pride keep you from coming to Jesus. Don’t worry about what people think. You obey the Lord, and you make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior.

Click on the podcast below to hear a message on the tragedy of a person who can serve the Lord for their entire life, yet still be lost.  

Amen.

WHO DO YOU TRUST IN? (1Chronicles 21:1-30)

The America that most of us grew up in, was a country where self-reliance was expected and taught.  You worked to provide for you and your family’s needs.  If that meant digging ditches, or working in a factory, or in an office, then that is what you did.  You relied on your physical skills and your mind to provide for you needs.  You did not rely on the government or others or to provide for your needs.  However, that is not the world that we live in today.  We are told by a corrupt media and educational system that we are to rely on an equally corrupt and all-powerful government to provide all of our needs.  The government takes from those whom they deem to have too much and gives it to those who they choose to give it to.  We are expected, and we are taught, to trust in our government.  

That is what the world teaches.  Yet, as Christians, we are taught to rely on God to provide for our needs.  However, that does not mean that we are to sit on our backsides and wait on God to turn rocks into bread so that we may eat.  The Bible tells us that if we choose to not work, then we will not eat.

2 Thess 3:10
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
KJV

So, the world teaches us to rely on the world, and the Bible teaches us to rely on God.  The question that we have before us today is who and what do your actions, not your words, say that you trust in?

Unfortunately, for most of us, even Christians, the answer to that question depends on how things are going at the time.  When things are going your way, who do you trust in, and what do you trust in?  Is it yourself, your bank account, your skills, and your intellect?  When things are going good, why should you bother God?  He is very busy.

However, when things are going against you, and each bad event seems to just stack one upon the other, then who, and what, do you trust in?  Is this the time that you choose to bother God?

If, when you search down deep for the truth in answering these questions, God only appears when the times are bad, then this lesson is for you.  If God is only your 911 call when things go bad, then this lesson is for you.  

Click on the podcast below to hear a message on one of the greatest sins that man can commit, the sin of unbelief.  

Amen.

A MIRACULOUS BIRTH (Luke 1:30; 2:8-14)

Now, I’m aware that the world laughs at the idea of a virgin birth. They think of it as some sort of primitive, medieval superstition or something. They laugh, they mock, at the idea of the virgin birth. I can tell you furthermore, the devil hates the idea of the virgin birth, because it teaches both the humanity and the deity of his nemesis, and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But worse than the mockery of this world, and worse than the hatred of Satan, is the ignorance of many so-called Christians concerning the virgin birth. Many of them doubt it. Some don’t believe it at all. And others think that it is incidental. 

One of the most frequent challenges about the virgin birth of Christ is that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God.  They will state, “You say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because He was born of a virgin, and that He didn’t have an earthly father.  Well, Adam didn’t have a father or a mother. Wouldn’t that make Adam more a Son of God than Jesus?”  The answer to that question is found at the very root of our knowledge about who Jesus Christ is.  The answer that the Word of God gives us is that Jesus was not the Son of God because He was born of a virgin.  Instead, He was born of a virgin because He was the Son of God.  

What the other faiths do not understand is that Jesus did not have His start in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ has been the Son of God from before the foundations of time.  In other words, He was the Son of God before Bethlehem, and He chose to step out of the glory to become God incarnate in man, and He did so by being born of a virgin.

Click on the podcast below to hear a message on why the virgin birth is so important to our faith.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born of a virgin that we might be born again. He came to earth that we might go to heaven. He became the Son of man that we might become the sons and daughters of God. That’s what it’s all about. That is why we have the virgin birth.

Amen.

WHEN THREE ACT AS ONE (2 Samuel 23:9-20)

God desires to fellowship with us.  God is sovereign, and we are to worship God, and we are God’s servants, but God wants more than that from us.  He wants our fellowship.  The interesting part of fellowshipping with God is that God is one God, but He is also three distinct persons.  So, let me ask you, when we fellowship with God, are we fellowshipping with The Father, The Son, or the Holy Spirit?  

I know the first thought that comes to my mind is that I fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is the Holy Spirit of God that resides in my heart, and He is the One that comforts me, and convicts me.  So, is He the One that I fellowship with?  

Then, it is the Father that I pray to in the name of the Son.  Now, I have often said that when we pray, we are fellowshipping with God.  It is supposed to be a two-way conversation.  We tell Him our needs, and then we have to stop and listen to Him.  If you do all of the talking, then it is a speech, not fellowshipping, and fellowshipping is what the Lord desires.  So, is the Father the One that I fellowship with?  

Then, it is the Holy Spirit that takes my words and makes them palatable to the Father, and it is the Son that is my advocate and High Priest before the Lord.  So, is it the Lord Jesus that I fellowship with?

The truth is that when I fellowship with God, I fellowship with each of the three persons of God, and yet I still fellowship with just the one God.  In other words, the three distinct persons of God act as One as they fellowship with me.  Now, isn’t that an amazing concept?  But that is not all.  

In today’s message we are going to study about an act by three of David’s mighty men where they rose up and acted as one to fulfill a need that David had.  It is a picture of what God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit did when they acted as One to fulfill our most important need.  The need for salvation.  There is, in the heart of every one of us, a thirst for the water of everlasting life. 

John 7:37
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
KJV

Rev 22:17
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
KJV

Our insatiable thirst is for the water of life.  Not the water of this world, for the water of this world can never satisfy the deepest longing of the human heart, and people are trying to satisfy that craving.  There is in every one of us an insatiable thirst that can only be satisfied with the wonderful water of life that Christ said, “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

The next time you partake of the Lord’s Supper, I want you to think of this.  I want you to think of what God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have done to bring the water of life to you.  When we take the precious elements into our bodies, when we hold these things in our hands, we’re saying, “This is what God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, did for us, that our deepest thirst might be satisfied.” But, we’re also saying, “Here, Lord, I give myself away. ’Tis all that I can do”—a life given, and a life given back.

Rom 12:1
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
KJV

Click on the link below to hear a wonderful story in the life of David, that reminds us what the three persons of God, acting as the One true almighty God, have done to meet our deepest need, salvation.  

Amen.