The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

Have you ever been out working under that hot July sun and you are sweating, and getting really thirsty? So, you go inside for a moment and pull a soft drink out of the refrigerator. Boy, it is ice cold and you drink one and it tastes so good and it just seems to hit the spot and you go back out to working in the yard and before long in that 100 degree heat you're thirsty again. So, you go back in for another soft drink and you drink that one, and it seems so good and it seems to satisfy, but before long you're thirsty again. But this time, instead of a soft drink, you tell yourself, I know what I need, and you go back and you get you a big tall glass of ice water, pure, ice cold water, and you drink it and you tell yourself, now that really does satisfy my thirst.

Ok, so why is that? Well, if you look at that bottle of soft drink, you'll see that it says it is artificially colored, artificially flavored, and most of all artificially sweetened. That tells me that there's just something there that doesn't have that touch of authenticity and reality. Instead of fake news, it is a fake cola, right?

Now, there are a lot of us who are trying to satisfy and to quench our thirst with things that are artificially colored, things that are artificially sweetened, and artificially flavored, and what we need is the water of life. What will truly satisfy us is to learn how to worship God in spirit and in truth.

Clink on the link below to hear a message explaining how God created you to worship Him. And until you learn how to worship him, truly reverence him, truly praise him, truly love him, truly adore him, truly have communion with him, there will always be in your heart and in your spirit a God shaped vacuum. You can be a Christian, and not know how to worship God, and as a result there will be this God shaped vacuum in your heart. Learn from the Word of God about how to worship Him.

Amen.

I am just going to say this, I am terrible at reading the signs that people give off about how they are feeling about something. Whether it is that they are hurt by what I have said or done, or I am not picking up some cue that that they are giving off. They think it ought to be obvious, but it just isn’t to me. If you want me to know something, you are going to have to tell me.

Now, to be honest, this is a fairly common difference between men and women. Men are more direct about communicating what they want you to know, and women are less so. I see this difference at work, at church, and at home. I am missing signs everywhere I go, and it gets me in trouble. There are times that I wish that robot from the science fiction show would be around to say “Danger Will Rogers.” I am better now than I used to be, but I am still not very good at it.

This concept can apply in our daily Christian walk as well. The truth is that most of us are not evangelists. We don’t spend a lot of time out walking up and down the sidewalk telling the gospel story to every person we see. Some of you might, and if you do, more power to you, I think that is great. But for a good share of us, we share what Christ has done for us by how we live our lives. How we handle our emotions, our language, our daily activities, and most of all, how we handle tragedy.

That is ok, up to a point. To be an effective witness for Christ, you have to watching for, and recognizing when the Holy Spirit is working on someone and it is time to vocalize your witness more directly. There will be a hesitation in how they are speaking about their problems, or there will be indirect questions about how you would handle a problem. The sadness on their face when the problems of the world just seem to be overwhelming them.

It will rarely be a direct question about God, or how to become a Christian. Don’t get me wrong, that certainly occurs, but I am willing to bet that you could count the times it has happened to you on one hand and still have fingers left over. If that is what you are waiting on before you witness to somebody, then you are missing the signs that God is putting before you in the people He brings you in contact with, and you are failing to fulfill the task that God has put you here to do.

You need to be watching for the signs. It will most likely be subtle things. Sometimes it is just curiosity, but other times it is something more. As a Christian, whose main assignment from God is to share the gospel of Jesus, you have to be watching for the signs that God is giving you.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the signs that our Lord Jesus Christ gave to those that He came in contact with. He told them that He was the Promised Messiah, that He was the Son of God, that He would die and then rise from the grave in three days, and He spoke with the full measure of the Holy Spirit. Jesus spoke directly to man, yet man rejected His words, they ignored the signs that Jesus gave them.

Amen.

What was the very first Bible verse that you can remember memorizing?

It would be John 3:16 for me. In fact, with my memory going away in my old age, it is probably the only verse I still have memorized. I know lots of verses by their context, but if it wasn’t for the internet search engines and the Bible concordance on my computer, I would have a hard time finding them. But John 3:16 is one I still remember.

So, why do you think that is? Why would this verse stay with me so readily, when others do not? It is because it tells me of God’s love for the whole world, but it is written in such a way, that it seems like He is talking to just me. God loves the world, but the word whosever means including me.

Who does the verse say loves this poor lost world? The one, true, almighty God. The eternal, self-existing, uncreated, and having need of nothing, God. It is God, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. It is God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It is God, who takes the initiative. It is God, who loves and gives. It all begins with God.

That God is “not willing that any should perish” is a great Biblical truth that is revealed to us. John tells us in 3:16 that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That is God's earnest desire for all the children of Adam. The gospel invitation is extended to all. If you want to make the invitation of this verse personal, then put your own name in the verse. For example say, For God so loved the world (including Keith Martin), that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever (including Keith Martin) believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God’s plan for salvation, includes me, even me. God does not want me, or you, or anybody else to perish.

The word Perish is a word that should make us all tremble as we think of the consequences of our sin against God. The word perish reveals the other side of God's character. He is not only a God of immeasurable love, he is also a God of infinite holiness. It is the finality of the word that terrifies us. Death, and what occurs on the other side of death, is a mystery to the lost person, but John 3:16 brings clarity to the mystery. In it, God puts a choice before us. He says, “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.” The choice that God gives us is to believe in Jesus Christ or perish. If we reject Christ, then God will allow sin to complete its work beyond the grave of condemning the soul to an eternity in torment.

But that is not what God wants for us. God would have every person come to repentance. That is why the invitation of John 3:16 is universal, hinging on believing in him. Those who do, become heirs of everlasting [eternal] life. God created us with eternity in mind. We have an immortal soul and spirit that will exist for all of eternity. This great verse, which summarizes the whole gospel story, begins with God and ends with everlasting life. It begins with one who had no beginning. It ends with that which has no ending.

The fact that Jesus Christ has come into the world provides each person with the ultimate test of believing or disbelieving, of choosing whether to continue in their sins and surely perish, or whether to believe in him and pass from death to life. The coming of Christ into this world is the single decision point of eternal destiny for each of us.

This great verse is the essential foundation of the gospel of Christ. God loved the world, including me, so much that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever, including me, believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Don’t walk away and reject such a gift. Choose Christ. Choose eternal life.

Click on the link below to learn just how much God loves you.

Amen.

The Bible tells us that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I firmly believe that the word whosoever, means whosoever, or anybody. Not just somebody special, but anybody. If you want to be a part of the whosoever that are saved, then call upon the name of the Lord. But I also believe that man is saved because of the work of the Holy Spirit of God who convicts that person of their need to be saved. He comes knocking on the door of your heart to tell you of your need for salvation. In the message today, Jesus is telling each of us that when the Holy Spirit comes calling on your spirit, you must respond.

We do not know when the Holy Spirit will come calling on us. We do not know for how long the Holy Spirit will stand knocking at the door of our heart and soul, or how often the Holy Spirit will return to knock again. I believe firmly that God is patient with the lost person. However, I also believe that there comes a time in that person’s life when God sees what is in their heart, He knows what their reaction to His call will be, and when the time of His choosing comes, He walks away from them, perhaps forever. The message that Jesus has for each lost person is that it is imperative that when the Holy Spirit is visiting a soul, in convicting, converting, regenerating, and renewing power, that soul must respond while it still can.

Jesus says that He is standing at the door, knocking.

Rev 3:20
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
KJV

Yet, He also says that there is a time when He stops knocking and shuts the door, even when you start knocking.

Luke 13:25
25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
KJV

Listen to me carefully. I am not saying that anybody, anybody, cannot call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. But, I am saying that God, in His omniscience, knows His own.

2 Tim 2:19
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
KJV

The Lord knoweth them that are His. If you are His, then open the door, and depart from iniquity.

John 10:2-3
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
KJV

Jesus is calling His sheep. He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. For Jesus to lead you out, then you must let Him in. You must respond to the calling of the Holy Spirit as He convicts your heart of your need to be twice born.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the need of each person to respond to the knocking of the Holy Spirit. If you wish to have eternal life in heaven with Jesus, then you must open the door of your heart and let the Holy Spirt of God in.

Amen.

What does a born-again child of God look like? Can you tell someone is a Christian by the way they look, or by the way they dress? Are there certain things a born-again child of God should not wear?

How does a born-again child of God behave? Can you tell someone is a Christian by the way they behave, or by the things they do, or say? Are there certain things that a born-again child of God should not do or say?

Now, let me ask the real question that I am leading us to. Is there a way that you can look at yourself and know whether or not that you are a born-again child of God? Jesus tells us there is.

Matt 7:20-21
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
KJV

Jesus is telling us in this set of verses that you will know a Christian, a true born again believer, whether it is yourself, or someone else, by the fruit that they bear. Not by the things that they wear, or how they look, and not by the things they say or do, but by the fruits that they bear. What are those fruits?

Gal 5:22-25
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
KJV

Paul is telling us that these are the things that we should be able to see, feel, and experience when we are in the presence of a born-again child of God. There ought to be a noticeable difference in you as a believer. Not a weird difference, but a good difference in the way you treat yourself, your family, your friends, and those whom you come in contact with. We are sojourners in this world. This is not our home. Heaven is our home. We are aliens on this earth, because we are in this world, but we are not of this world.

We are twice born, redeemed, sanctified, Holy Spirit inhabited, joint heirs with the Son of God. Our outlook on this life, and our purpose in this world, is totally different from that of a lost person. There ought to be a noticeable difference about us. If we are truly born-again, then there ought to be a difference in us.

When you are saved, it brings a certainty to it. You ought to be able to say, "I know, that I know, I have been saved." If you have trusted Christ, if you have come down and trusted on the Word of God, if you have put your faith in Christ, and you know where God has put your sins, and somebody says, "Are you saved?" Then you can say, with that same certainty, "Yes, hallelujah, praise God, I know, that I know, that I am saved. God's Spirit agrees with my spirit that I'm a child of God."

Click on the link below to hear a message on the traits of a born-again believer, and on the things that will be true of you, if you are truly saved. God’s wants you to be certain that you are saved, listen and learn how you can tell if you are truly born again.

Amen.

In the first part of this series on why you must be born again, we talked about the deficiency of our natural birth. Why is it deficient? Because we are born into the natural world, we are bound to the sinful world, and we are blind to the spiritual world. So, why did Jesus come as God in man? Because of the deficiency of our natural birth.

How did Jesus Christ come into this world? He came through the portals of a virgin's womb. He is the only begotten Son of God. There never was, nor will there ever be, another like Him. He is the God man. He is God's only begotten Son. That which was conceived in the womb of Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God, and He is the only begotten of Son of God. He is the virgin born Son of God. That is what it means when we say He was virgin born.

He came as He did, born of a virgin, to be what He was, sinless. He was what He was, sinless, to do what He did, die for our sins. A sinner could die for nobody's else's sin except his own. He had to be sinless to be a substitute. He came as He did, to be what He was, to do what He did, that we might be what we are, sons and daughters of God. He came to earth that we might go to heaven.

He was born of a virgin that we might be born again. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life." That is redemption. Thank God for the virgin birth. Don't think it's incidental. Don't think it's mythological. It is the foundation stone of our faith that God became man. This is the incarnation, the Second Adam from above, who came to reinstate us in God’s love.

Click on the link below to hear a message on the three types of miracle births that we are studying about in this third chapter of the Gospel of John. The natural birth, the virgin birth, and the new birth. All three are miracle births created by God.

Amen.

Let me ask you a question, how many of you were born as a baby? Imagine that, I will bet that this is the only question that I could ask and get a 100% positive response to. Everyone that is reading this post, and listening to this lesson, was born as a baby.

Next question, was your birth a product of man’s scientific prowess, or was it a miracle of God? Who is your creator? Your mother and father, a scientist with a test tube, or God? Is it possible to create a living body, soul, and spirit, without God? If the answer to this last question is “No”, and it is, then God is your Creator.

In our lessons over the next couple of weeks, we are going to talk about three different kinds of miracle births, and let me be very clear, only God can create a miracle birth. But, today, we are going to focus on the fact that our natural birth, even though it is a miracle birth, is deficient, and, therefore, we must be born again.

Click on the link below to hear a message on why Jesus had to come. Why the agony of Gethsemane? Why bloody Calvary? Why did Jesus come to this earth as God in human flesh? Why you must be born again.

Amen.

Has God ever given you a sign to tell you something or to confirm something for you? Have you ever asked for a sign, and God did not give you one? Was the lack of a sign from God, in itself, a sign from God?

Certainly, the Bible tells us that God does use signs to show people His will, or to strengthen their faith. The Gospel of John is full of them. If you remember the story about Paul in the book of Acts. Paul wanted to go to Ephesus, but God had other plans for him. Paul kept asking for a sign on which direction he was to go, whether it was north, south, east, or west, and finally God told him to go to Macedonia. So, is it right or wrong to ask God for a sign? As we will see in our lesson today, the answer to that question, is found in your motive for the sign.

Click on the link below to hear a message about the Lord Jesus going to Jerusalem, and announcing that He was the Messiah, and the Jews asking for a sign to prove that it was true. We will find that their motive was wrong in asking for the sign.

Amen.

The first miracle of the Lord’s public ministry was performed by Jesus at a wedding. When you think about it, it is significant that John’s record of the Lord’s first miracle was at a wedding, and the last miracle was at a funeral. The first, was connected with a joyful time in our lives, and the last was connected with a sad time in our lives.

It is also of interest, that the first miracle that Moses performed was turning water into blood, and the first miracle of Jesus was turning water into wine. Moses gave us the Law, it was harsh, and it required a blood sacrifice for forgiveness. Jesus gave us salvation by grace and truth, He ended the need for blood sacrifices of animals, and provided redemption by grace.

The Bible tells us that Jesus performed, literally, thousands upon thousands of miracles in His ministry on this earth. So, the question we have is why would the Holy Spirit choose this miracle out of all of these miracles to include in this gospel? He not only included it, He gave it the significant position of being first.

Click on the link below to hear a message about a simple miracle, with a simple message. That message is that we can believe on Jesus Christ, because He is the Son of God. He is the Promised Messiah, and He wants to fill us with His words so that we can share it with others.

Amen.

The single most important day in a person’s life is when they find Jesus Christ and make Him their Lord and Master. Why is it so important? Because, when we find Jesus Christ, we find everlasting life.

John 5:24
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
KJV

People are searching for answers to the questions they have about life and death. They want to understand their purpose and role in this world that we live in. They want to know if there is life after death, or is the grave the end of everything? Is heaven real? Is hell real? Is there a way to live in heaven for the rest of eternity?

On every website, street corner, school, training center, and counseling center, there are people with answers to those questions. It is a multibillion dollar industry. But there is only one truth, one way, and one Savior. His name is Jesus Christ. Do not be deceived by what others will tell you, there is but one way to find everlasting life, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.

John 14:6
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
KJV

No decision you will ever make will be as important as finding Jesus Christ and making Him your Savior. Heaven and hell are real, and the answer to the question about where you will spend eternity rests solely on what you choose to do with Jesus Christ. Whether you accept Him as your Savior or reject Him. It has nothing to do with being good or bad, it all rests on finding Jesus Christ and accepting His offer of salvation and eternal life by God’s grace and your faith in Christ.

Click on the link below to hear a message about Jesus Christ beginning His public ministry and His calling of disciples to follow Him. Each of these men had been looking for the Promised Messiah. They had been searching for the answers to their purpose and role in this world that they lived in. As each of these men found Jesus, they found the One they had been looking for, and the answers to their questions. They found Jesus Christ.

Amen.