The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

JESUS IS THE ANSWER TO YOUR DARKNESS (John 20:30-31)

John had a purpose when he gave us the gospel of John and it was that we might believe in Jesus, and that by believing, we might be saved. God wants us to know that Jesus is the answer to man's darkness.

John 20:30-31
30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
KJV

Jesus Christ is the light of men.  Now there can be no greater sin than to reject the light that is Jesus Christ. Once a man hears the gospel and his heart is open to the Word of God, if he does not act upon that light, and go from faith to faith until he believes in Jesus Christ, his condemnation is doubled. Because not only is he judged for his sin, but he is also judged that he refused the cure for that sin.  He refused to believe in Jesus Christ.

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

When God comes to judge the world, he's not going to judge the world primarily by the sin that was committed, but by the light that was rejected.  Jesus is the Light of the world. We are born as spiritually blind beggars, but those blind eyes can be opened and will be opened by the grace of God. It's not just turning on the light, the heart and the mind have to be opened and quickened to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. And once the heart, once the mind, are opened and quickened, then we go stepping into the light we are given until we come to Jesus. Man's greatest need is to come, admit and confess his spiritual blindness, his spiritual darkness.  When he says God help me, I'm blind, then God opens his eyes and gives him light.

John tells us that the purpose he had in writing this gospel was “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”  God wants us to know that Jesus is the answer to man's darkness.  

Click on the link below to learn how you can find God’s answer your darkness.  That answer is Jesus Christ.

Amen.

THE SCARS THAT GOD BEARS (John 20:24-29)

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.

THE JOB OF A CHRISTIAN (John 20:21)

The title of the lesson is “The Job of a Christian,” but I could just as easily have used the title of, "Getting People Ready for Heaven" because that is what Jesus is telling His disciples, and us, about what comes next. The resurrection is real, Jesus is alive, and this is what He wants us to do next.

John 20:21
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
KJV

Jesus didn't come as the great teacher. He didn't come as the great financier, and He didn't come as the great politician. He came to be the Savior of the world. The mandate that the Father sent His Son to do was a mandate of salvation. Our mandate today is the same mandate that Jesus had, and that is the salvation of souls.

Does God want people saved? Of course, He does. Has God put His instructions in the Bible? Of course, He has. What we need to do is to give the simple, glorious, message of Jesus Christ. There are thousands of people out there who will respond to the simple message of the gospel. The gospel is so incredibly simple—not simplistic—but simple, clear, plain, and sweet. You don't have to be a PhD to understand it. God loves common people, and so, what you need to do is to learn the simple, sweet, glorious message of the gospel, and then share it with others.

The world is hungering for this truth. His message is to be our message.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how we need to make a full, total, surrender to Jesus Christ. Learn how to share the gospel. Pray that God will lay some soul upon your heart, or that God will open extraordinary opportunities to you, and then be bold enough to speak for Jesus. Don't be afraid of failure. There can be no failure if you obey. Whether they are saved or not, you will be a success if you share the Lord Jesus. Successful witnessing is sharing Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results with God.

Amen.

HE IS RISEN (John 20:11-24)

Jesus Christ rose from the grave and He is alive today sitting at the right hand of the Father. He is risen. The physical, bodily, resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave is a foundation on which our faith is based. To be a Christian means that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. For that to be true then Jesus Christ must be alive, for you cannot have a personal relationship with someone who is dead. Jesus is alive, and He lives in my heart. He is my Lord and my Savior.

In fact, the resurrection of Christ was so significant that the world should have been there paying its homage. Caesar should have come from Rome. The wise men of Athens should have been there. Caiaphas and Annas and the Sanhedrin should have been there. All of the dispersed Jews should have been there, along with Herod and his men of war. Pilate and his wife should have been there. The disciples should have been there. The roads to Jerusalem should have been crowded with pilgrims, and all of Jerusalem should have been arriving with triumphant palms. Instead the world stayed away.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the events that occurred on the day of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. On this day, the world turned from darkness to light and from death to life. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the wonderful good news of the gospel message. Because He rose, you can rise to walk in the newness of life. You can have everlasting life because Jesus conquered death. He is risen.

Amen.

THE CROSS WAS NOT THE END OF THE STORY (John 19:31-20:10)

We know that Jesus rose from the dead because Scripture tells us that after His resurrection He was touched by people, He walked, He talked, He ate, and He was seen by hundreds of people. The fact that Jesus rose bodily from the grave is a foundational principle in our faith. If you do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you cannot be saved and have everlasting life. It is that important. The resurrection has been, and still is, an integral part of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures make it clear that it was real, and you can believe it is true.

Satan and all his demons and servants in this world will tell you that it is a myth. Unbelievers have invented alternate theories, such as, Christ did not really die, he only swooned on the cross and in the tomb recovered, escaped into the night, and later showed himself to be alive; the disciples stole the body and then made up a lie about Christ's resurrection based on the fact of an empty tomb; the women who came to the tomb were half expecting a resurrection and therefore had a hallucination.

One and all, those explanations are the desperate attempts of godless men to avoid the fact that Jesus Christ is alive. God raised him from the dead. One and all, the clumsy attempts of an unbelieving world to deny the literal, bodily, resurrection of Christ from the dead break down before the facts.

Being a Christian is about a personal relationship with Christ. If Christ is not alive, then that relationship cannot exist. If Christ is still in the grave, then Satan has won, and we are all condemned to die in our sins. But Christ did rise, and you can have everlasting life when you believe on Him and make Him your Lord and Savior. It is an important principle in our faith for us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the cross was not the end of the story. Jesus rose, He is alive today, and we can have everlasting life because of His death and resurrection.

Amen.

THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS CHRIST (John 19:30)

Our message today is going to be about a simple phrase. A phrase that contains just three words, and yet they are three words that shook the world then, and they are still shaking the world today. They are “It is finished.”

John 19:30
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
KJV

There is a prayer in my heart about this message today. It is that God would anoint this message with supernatural power. I pray that God would make these words a blessing. I pray that the Lord will speak through me, and as a result, that Christians will be strengthened, and that the unsaved will be convicted, and converted, and drawn to confess Christ as their Lord and Savior. I pray that everything that is said and done here today will glorify and magnify the name of Jesus. That is my prayer for this message today. I hope that is your prayer as well.

Now, I want you to notice that Jesus did not say, "I am finished." Even though all of the demons in Hell were howling in glee and saying, "We got Him, He's gone. He's finished." it is really important for us to see that Jesus didn't say, "I am finished."

Even though the disciples were mournful and brokenhearted because their leader, their Sovereign, their King, was dying there upon a cross. We need to understand that it was not that Jesus was finished. Instead, Jesus said “IT was finished.”

Click on the link below to hear a message on what Jesus meant when He said IT is finished. We will talk about the prophecies that were completed, and the suffering that was completed, but, most importantly, I want to tell you, thank God, God's way of salvation was finished. God's mighty work of redemption was finished. When Jesus died, all that was necessary for you to be forgiven and to be saved was done. There's nothing for you to do but to receive what Jesus Christ has already done, because "It is finished."

That is the difference between any false cult and biblical Christianity. There's nothing for you to do. What you must do is to receive the finished work of Calvary. Jesus Christ said: "It is finished". It is not what you do to be saved, it's what He has done. It's spelled d-o-n-e. "It's finished." Jesus Christ has purchased your salvation. It's paid for.

What I want you to hear in this message are God’s promises to you. When Jesus Christ said “It is Finished, He is telling you that if you want to be saved, you can be saved. If you want God to give you a new life, He'll give you a new life. If you want power over Satan, you can have it. Because "It is finished"

Amen.

REJECTING THE SON OF GOD (John 19:16-30)

There is no hour in the history of the human race that is darker than when Jew and Gentile alike hung the Son of the Almighty God on a cross to die. Before time began, when God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit chose to act in creation, they also decided to act in redemption. Before the first breath of life was placed into the body of a man, God knew that Jesus Christ would have to come to this earth to die for the sins of the world. God knew the hatred and rejection that Jesus Christ would face, and yet He still created man. God knew the pain and torture that Jesus Christ would face on the cross, and yet He still created man. Jesus Christ came to this earth to redeem fallen man. He died on the cross, He was buried in a tomb, and then three days later He rose from the grave to bring eternal life to every person that would accept Him as the Son of God and the free gift of salvation that He offered. He did this because He loved each of us and wanted us to have everlasting life.

John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
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.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
KJV

In return for this sacrifice that was freely given, the vast majority of the human race has spent every day since Jesus Christ came denying that He existed. Denying that He was the Son of God, and denying that He ever rose from the grave. They have chosen the darkness of sin over the light of truth and eternal life that Christ is. They chose to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 19:30
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
KJV

Notice that Jesus was in complete control. He determined that “It is finished.” Every jot and tittle of the law, every word and deed, all that he had been given to do while on earth, was finished. Then, still sovereignly in charge of the situation, he bowed his head and dismissed his spirit. That triumphant word, finished, has been echoing down the centuries. All the work of salvation is finished. It is accomplished. No one can add to a finished work. We can add nothing to the saving work of Christ. Yet, we can accept the free gift of salvation that the Lord has provided for us by the shedding of His precious blood on the cross of Calvary.

Amen.

TO CHOOSE DARKNESS OVER LIGHT (John 19:1-15)

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.

TO TRY AN INNOCENT MAN (John 18:12-40)

Satan inspired, false religion, has been the reason behind much of the world’s evil. It has caused men to be deceitful, greedy, and power hungry. It has caused violence, war, and the torture and deaths of millions upon millions of people throughout the history of mankind. Jesus Christ came to this earth as God incarnate in man to put an end to false religion and to give the human race the gospel of Jesus Christ. A gospel of divine love, eternal life, forgiveness, mercy, and salvation. He sealed that gospel with His own blood on the cross at Calvary. Jesus did not come to start a new religion. He came to bring redemption to those who would accept God’s free gift of eternal life. The gospel of Christ is not a religion, it is a relationship with Christ. It is not ritual, it is not a building, it is not a denomination, it is a personal relationship with the Son of God as your Lord and Savior.

The Jewish religious establishment had corrupted the religion of Judaism given by God to His chosen people. They rejected the Word of God as being incomplete and wrote their own laws, and then they created endless rituals to support it. When Jesus came and spoke against this corruption, He had to be stopped. The Jewish religious establishment conspired to murder the Son of God and they did not care how much they had to lie, cheat, and bribe, in order to accomplish this goal.

Click on this link to hear a message on how the two governing bodies in Judea at that time, the Jewish religious establishment and the Roman system, determined that Jesus was guilty of a crime that warranted He be hung on a cross and crucified. They chose to try an innocent man and condemn Him to death or the sake of false religion.

Amen.

WHAT DO YOUR REACTIONS SHOW? (John 18:1 to 11)

I want to start by telling you something important, and here it is, the true test of your character is not seen in your actions but in your reactions. Have you ever gone to the doctor? And, when you were there, he was checking you out, and he put you up on the table, and took that little hammer and tapped your knee? He wanted to see if you had a particular reaction. He's trying' to find out something about you. Now, you could sit up there, and he could say, "Lift your knee," and you could raise it up and down like he said. But, he doesn't want to see what you planned to do, or that you can follow instructions. He wants to see the reaction he gets from you when he hits your knee with the hammer, because it is that reaction that is going to tell him something about you.

Now, all of us can control our actions. But, it's our reactions that really count and really show what we are. How you react, what comes out of your mouth, when somebody cuts you off as you are driving down the road, or if you stub your toe, or hit your finger when you are trying to hit a nail, says a lot about what is in your heart.

The difference between our actions and our reactions is really the difference between reputation and character. Somebody once said that reputation is what others think about you. Character is what God and your wife know about you. Sometimes there is a vast difference. But I want us to think today about reactions, and what we can learn about how we should react from how our Lord Jesus reacted to the events leading up to His crucifixion.

Jesus Christ gave himself for us on the cross to pay for our sins, and then he rose again to give himself to us that he might live his life through us. The same Jesus who reacted that way so long ago will react that way in you today, if He is inside of you. If he's not there, if He is not in you, they you are just an imitation of Jesus. But, if he is there, you can say, "The life I now live I live by the life of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Isn't that wonderful?

Click on the link below to learn how when we begin to live that way, the joy begins to come, the power begins to come, our loved ones get saved, our friends get reconciled, and God is glorified. That's what I want. That's what we want. We want our reactions to show people who we really are, a twice born person and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.