The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

WE ARE CHRIST'S CANDLE (John 1:5-9)

Today’s message is about our role, as born again believers in Christ, of being a candle for Christ. We have been commanded by our Lord to allow His light to shine through us. We are to be Christ’s candle for the world.

Mark 4:21
21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
KJV

When you stop and think about it, a candle, in and of itself, really is a remarkable invention. When it was created, its whole purpose was to serve as a simple instrument for dispelling darkness. It enabled man to work, or rest, in the dark. It allowed him to see the dangers that used the darkness to prey upon him. If it was put into a lantern casing, it became a mobile source of light and protection as man traveled along the road. It guided man along the pathway or trail that he was following. If you placed the candle in front of a reflective surface you could focus the light and cast it out for greater distances enhancing the protection, and utility, that it gave.

Darkness, with all of its power to frighten and bewilder, is no match for the light. The faintest gleam, the smallest candle, will dispel the deepest darkness. The function of the candle is to provide the light that dispels that darkness. But notice that the candle performs this function at a great expense to itself. It has to give itself up to the flame and be consumed. The light of the sun and stars is provided on the same principle. As they shed their light upon us, they consume the energy that is within them.

Now, the Word of God tells us that in the spiritual realm, the Lord Jesus is the Light that dispels darkness. The light that He brings has been provided at an infinite cost. Yet, when we come to Him, He kindles that light in us. The fact that we are now His light bearers means that we, too, must pay the price of shining. Our light is not to be hidden. It is not a secret light. It is to be placed where it will be seen of men. Many people hate and resent the light of Christ and will try to extinguish it. On the other hand, many other people will be drawn to it.

It is important for us to understand that it is the light itself that is the miracle, we are just the candles. We are sowers, and we are light bearers. We are to be a light unto the world.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the role of a believer to be Christ’s candle to the world.

Amen.

JESUS IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (John 1:1-5)

John tells us that Jesus Christ is the light of the world when he says, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Jesus is the Light of the world, that is why He came to this earth as a Man, to be the Light of the World. The world was in darkness when He came, and it is even darker today because mankind rejected that Light. We are in a desperate condition, but, thank God there is Light. God’s light floods our hearts. Jesus, who turned a chaos into a cosmos at the creation of the heavens and the earth, turned the chaos of our lives into something wonderful when He made us a new creation.

John 8:12
12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
KJV

We have life everlasting only because of the light of Jesus Christ.

Click on the link below to hear a message on who Jesus Christ is and the impact that He can have in your life.

Amen.

GOSPEL OF JOHN INTRODUCTION (John 1:1-2)

The reason that John wrote this book is, “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” John wanted you to know that Jesus was the Christ. John wanted you to know that the Man, who had no origin, no beginning, is the Son who comes out of eternity.

John wrote this book because so much was still unsaid. Based on the simplicity of the language that John uses, it is generally assumed that the Gospel of John is easy to understand. Often you hear the statement describing John as the simple Gospel. It is written using mostly one and two syllable words. Yet, the simplicity of the language has deceived many. On their face, the words seem easy to understand, but the truth is, we are dealing with the most profound Gospel of the four. This gospel is intended to help the believer to become stronger in their knowledge of what the Lord Jesus has done for them.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the Introduction to the Gospel of John as we start a new series of messages on this wonderful gospel.

Amen.

THE LAST MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE (Revelation 22:14-21)

The last message of the Bible is choose Jesus. It really is that simple. The whole Bible was given to us so that we might choose Jesus. The last promise from our Lord is Surely, I come quickly. The last prayer of this book is Even so, come, Lord Jesus. In these last words, the Lord Jesus Christ makes a proposal to every person who is alive today. He asks you to choose Him as your Lord and Savior. He is asking you to spend eternity with Him in Heaven, instead of eternity without Him in Hell. Choose Jesus, that is the last message of the Bible.

Who cares if a sinner goes to hell? The Lord Jesus cares. Jesus said, "I sent a message with an angel, and I said to that angel, go to the churches and give them this message. I want them saved." The Lord Jesus cares if you go to Hell. That's why Jesus stepped out of the glories of heaven and walked the dusty shores of Galilee. That's why Jesus left heaven's love for earth's abuse. That's why Jesus was nailed to that horrible cross and died in agony and blood.

Why? With every drop of His blood, He is saying, "I love you and I want to save you." It is a Biblical truth that if you die and go to hell, you will have to climb over the battered, bruised, body of Jesus to get there. He's saying, "Stop! Don't go to hell."

Click on the link below to hear a message on how much Jesus Christ wants you to choose Him.

Amen.

THE LAST PROPHECY OF THE BIBLE (Revelation 22:1-13)

Last words are very important. I can remember the last night I spent with my father. Neither one of us knew that it would be our last night together, but it was. He had been rushed to the hospital after being diagnosed with an aortal aneurism. Surgery was planned for the next day, so I sent the rest of the family home while I stayed with him for the night. We just talked into the night about work, family, and other casual things, but it was an easy, good, conversation. He went to sleep, and before the night was over, he was gone. The words we had spoken were our last words together, and they are important to me. The last words of the Bible are vitally important to us as Christians, but also to every living person who still has a chance to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior.

The last prophecy of the Bible predicts the sudden return of the Savior. Jesus said, "Look! Listen! Pay attention! Behold, I come quickly..." That is an ironclad promise from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, none of us know when Jesus Christ is coming. However, we all know, if we believe the Bible, that He is indeed coming, and your destiny is determined by what you've done with Him before He comes. Jesus says that when He comes He is bringing something with Him. He says, “and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

It is a fact that Jesus Christ is coming back. Are you ready for His return? With your eternal destiny at stake, it would be extremely foolish to not be ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Today, not tomorrow or next week. Today!

2 Cor 6:2
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
KJV

We are living in this space of time. The word now speaks of the present time. When your eternity begins after death, you will not have another chance to be saved. Now is the time. If you do not choose now, then there will be no salvation for you. One of these days there will be no more days. If you want to be saved, you can be saved, but you must remember that Jesus Christ is the only hope. There is none other.

Click on this link to hear a message on the last prophecy of the Bible, Jesus Christ is coming again. Amen.

A TOUR OF HEAVEN-PART II (Revelation 21:9-27)

Heaven is a real place. It is not some mysterious, atmospheric, realm of smoke and mirrors. Too many people want to spiritualize heaven, denying that life exists after death, but in order to do that they must ignore the plain words of the Bible. Jesus clearly says that He has gone to prepare a real place for us. Every loved one that we have lost, who had Jesus Christ as their Savior, is in a real place. A place called heaven.

You might ask, “Who is it that will populate heaven?” The Bible is clear that Heaven is a made-new place. If you are not made new, then you are not going to be any part of it. Heaven is going to be a place where there are multiplied millions and billions of people. Who will populate it? First of all, every little aborted baby will be there. The saints of all of the ages will be there. Believers of every nation in the world are going to be there. But nobody is going to be there above the age of accountability who has not received Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior and Lord. You just won't be there.

There is an old song that says, "Everybody who is talking about heaven ain't going there." Heaven is a made-new place, if you want to go to heaven, then you must be made-new as well.

2 Cor 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
KJV

Heaven is not only a made-new place, but it is also a prepared place for a prepared people.

John 14:1-4
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
KJV

Heaven is a made-new place, and heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Have you ever come to the cross? Have you ever repented of your sin? Have you ever really, I mean honestly trusted Jesus. Not trusting in your humanitarianism, not trusting in your charity, not trusting in your religion, not trusting in your membership of some church, but trusting in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ?

If you haven’t, and you want to spend eternity living in this beautiful place called heaven, then you make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior today.

Click the link below to hear a sermon on what heaven is going to be like.

Amen.

A TOUR OF HEAVEN (Revelation 21:1-8)

Let me ask you a question here, have you ever been made fun of for believing in such things as heaven and hell? In the really old days, when I was much younger, people would call those of us who believed in a life hereafter, Holy Rollers or Religious nuts. Both were used derisively to describe someone who is overcome with too much Holy Spirit and has lost touch with reality. Today, that is fairly mild compared to the hateful names they call anyone who dares to say that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that heaven is real, and therefore, hell is real. I certainly have gotten used to the tolerant looks from people, when they hear I am teaching through the book of Revelation.

When we as Christians talk about heaven, there are those people who just sneer and say, "Well, you Christians are so heavenly minded you are no earthly good." May I suggest that it is just the opposite? Many of us are so earthly minded we are no good to heaven or earth.

Col 3:1-2
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
KJV

The Bible tells us that we are to be heavenly minded. What did Jesus tell us in Matthew 6:20-21?

Matt 6:20-21
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
KJV

If your heart is not in heaven, if you are not anticipating going to heaven, then it is because your treasure is down here. And to be honest, it is not your treasure that God wants. God doesn't need anything. It is your heart that God wants. So, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. By the way, if you want to know how rich you really are, you add up everything you have that money can't buy and that death can't take away. That is the treasure that you will have in heaven.

The Lord wanted John to write about heaven as He closed out this wonderful book of Revelation. I believe He did so because He wanted us to know about the place that He has gone to prepare for us, so that we could be confident in our future.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the reality of a place called heaven. Heaven is a real place that we are going to spend eternity in.

Amen.

JUDGMENT DAY (Revelation 20:13-15)

As we think about this final judgment of the unsaved dead, I sometimes wonder what those who read my posts, or listen to the podcast think. Do they ask themselves, “Is this real? Is a judgment day when I will stand before God real, or is it just something religious nuts talk about to make people scared enough to come to church? It just seems so theatrical, like the stuff of fairy tales, or an Edgar Allen Poe story, to talk about heaven and hell, fire and brimstone, and eternity. It is simple, you live, you die, you are buried, and that is it. Party while you can, because life is short.”

I want you to listen to me, with every single fiber of my body, I want to tell you that this judgment day is real. Every single person who has ever lived is destined to meet Jesus Christ. You will meet Him as your Savior, or as your Judge. You get to choose, but you must choose now, before you die, before your heart stops beating. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation, now is the time to choose Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord. You do not want to stand before Christ at this final judgment, for everyone who does, everyone, will be condemned to spend eternity in the lake of fire. Forever, and ever. It is as simple as that.

The Bible tells us over and over again that there is a judgment day coming. There is coming a time when God will put the final period, upon the final paragraph, upon the final page, upon the final chapter, upon the final book of human history. This judgement will include every person who has ever lived that rejected God’s free gift of salvation. If during your life on this earth, you said no to the gospel message of Jesus Christ, then you will stand before Christ to be judged and condemned to an eternity in hell. The key to who will stand at this judgment is not how bad you were, or how good you were. It is whether or not you made Jesus Christ your Savior and Lord while you lived on this earth. That’s it, that is the determining factor and to which judgment you will go to, and where you will spend eternity.

For all those who have said that they don’t believe in hell fire, 30 seconds after you get there, you will believe. This is what God’s Word says, and it is as sure as the God that wrote each word. There really is a lake of liquid fire, and the sadness of it is, that you don't have to go. C. S. Lewis brilliantly said that everybody in the world is in two categories. Those who are like Satan who say to God the Father, “not your will but mine be done.” And those who are like God the Son who say to the Father, “not my will but thine be done.”

Now those in the first category who say to the Father, not your will but mine be done, who are autonomous and live self-concerned, self-controlled lives, will one day drop into that Lake of Fire and a broken-hearted God will say, "Not my will, but thine be done." God doesn't want you to go to hell.

The truth is, that if you die outside the Lord, then you are going to come to a judgment and you will find out for yourself that the Bible is indeed true.

But I have got wonderful news for you. The Bible says of the Lord Jesus Christ, “He that believeth on him is not condemned. Now there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Click on the link below to hear a message on the final day of judgment.

Amen.

THE FINAL JUDGMENT (Revelation 20:11-13)

The simple truth is that we live in a world full of evil. Evil lives in the heart of man. Evil doesn’t care who it harms, it just wants to harm someone or something. When a young man takes a gun to school and kills other students, that is evil living in the heart of that young man. I don’t care what you believe you are a victim of, there is no rational reason for killing others. It is just plain evil. No law can change the evil that lives in our hearts. Creating a perfect environment to live in cannot change the evil that lives in our hearts. You can make the world a Garden of Eden, and evil will still bubble up out of the heart of man.

There is only one way to change the heart of man, and that is the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Yet, this world rejects the free gift of salvation, and being given a new, godly, nature that the gospel of Christ offers to a lost world. So, evil grows and grows. The world gets darker and darker with sin. It seems that there is no answer to the problem. It seems that evil will eventually win and shut out the light of all that is good.

As believers in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we know that the answer is not to be found in man, but in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus comes again, He will deal with evil of every kind. He will deal with Satan and all of his followers, and He will deal with the evil that resides in the heart of man. A day of judgment is coming, when Christ will deal with the evil of this world, forever.

Today’s message is about that final judgment of the unsaved dead. It is called the Great White Throne Judgment. Satan has persuaded mankind for centuries that there is no future punishment, no final accounting before God. It is a lie that has allowed evil to grow. The Bible tells us over and over again that there is a judgment day coming. There is coming a time when God will put the final period upon the final paragraph, upon the final page, upon the final chapter, upon the final book of human history. This judgement will include every person who has ever lived that rejected God’s free gift of salvation. If during your life on this earth, you said no to the gospel message of Jesus Christ, then you will stand before Christ as your judge at this final judgment.

The time of this final judgment will come and every scheme, every plan, every desire, that men sold their souls for, will turn to rust, and dust, and mold, and corruption. The unsaved dead will be raised from their graves to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ to be judged.

You may make the choice not to be a Christian. You may choose to never give your heart to Jesus Christ, but one day you are going to meet Jesus Christ. Every person who has ever lived has an appointment already set on the calendar to meet Jesus Christ. He is inescapable, and He is unavoidable. You will meet Jesus Christ. If you don't meet Him as Savior, then you will meet Him as Judge. You may have ignored Him, you may have denied Him, you may have disbelieved Him, you may even have cursed Him, but one day you will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the Final Judgment.

Amen.

RESURRECTION AND REBELLION (Revelation 20:5-10)

The title of our message today is Resurrection and Rebellion. In the first part of our message we will talk about the order of the resurrections of the just and unjust. Contrary to what many will tell you, the Bible does not teach of a single resurrection. Instead, it teaches of two resurrections. The first resurrection is for those saints who have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The second resurrection is for those who have rejected Christ as their Savior. Instead of joining Christ in heaven for eternity as the saints will do, these who have rejected Christ, will now stand before Christ as their Judge.

The second part of today’s message is about God’s plan to bring a final resolution to sin on this earth. Jesus Christ is going to come and rule for a thousand years. This will be a literal period of one thousand years when man will live in a perfect society. The animal kingdom will be changed, the mineral kingdom will be changed, and the earth will become a regenerated Garden of Eden. Men will live for a thousand years, they will be but youngsters at the age of 100 years old. Satan will be removed from the scene and cast into the bottomless pit, where he will remain chained until the very end of this one thousand year period, when God will let him loose for a little while.

The people of the earth will have been living in blessing for a thousand years. They will have children during the millennium. The population of the world will grow again. Even though they are living with the Son of God right before them, in blessings, in peace, many of them will reject Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Jesus will rule the nations with a rod of iron. There will be no uprising during that time. There will be no Satan leading in rebellion. But down in the human heart, latent in the human heart, there will still be sin if it has not been washed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is these children, who, after a thousand years, are going to rebel against God when Satan is let loose. God is demonstrating to the world two great principles when He does this.

Number one: Punishment is not the final answer. Satan has been in the prison house doing hard time for one thousand years and he comes back to rebel one more time. Even a thousand years of punishment did not reform Satan. Punishment is not the answer to reform the heart of man.

Number two: Environment is not the final answer. Make your environment as good as you can, but after one thousand years of peace and righteousness down in the human heart this latent sin comes bubbling up. That is the way it is with sin in the human heart. There is only one answer to sin and it is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God will deal with this rebellion and He will deal with Satan, bringing a final resolution to sin. Sin will be no more.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the order of the resurrections and how God deals with rebellion against Jesus Christ.

Amen.