The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

One of the greatest things about being a Christian is knowing that God’s plan will always prevail.  Amen?  What is sad about this knowledge is that the lost people I know do not have this comfort.  They either have been told about God and rejected Him, or they simply do not know Him.   The Holy Spirit always has His way in the end.  He does not force His will, He does not coerce.  He remains invisible, inaudible, but infinite, inescapable, and infallible, guiding all things to work out His sovereign will.  This is something that should fill us with joy and praise for God.   When everything seems to be going wrong, when truth seems to always be playing with a handicap, when the right seems to be outmaneuvered by the wrong, when misguided men have somehow seemingly been able to destroy or disrupt that which was of God, we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is at work and all things will work out to His sovereign will.  The Holy Spirit never loses, never fails, and never deviates from His purpose.  His will always prevails in the end.   The battle between God and Satan is not a battle of equals. It is a battle between the Creator, and the created.  Satan was created by God, and he will be destroyed by God.  Satan is absolutely no match for the almighty power of God.   Click on the link below to hear a message about God’s plan for both the Gentiles and the Jews.  How God is visiting “the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.” This is why we should feel anxious to share the Word of God. Right now, there are people of every color, every race, and of every nation who need to hear the Word of God.    What does God do with that Word? He is calling out a people for His name.  Not everyone who hears believes the Word. Not everyone accepts the good news of Jesus Christ. But of those who hear, God calls out a people for His name.  This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

If this is the question you ask yourself at the end of each day, then I have some really good news for you.  That good news is, Your Salvation is by grace, not works.  God’s provision is that salvation is granted to us by our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   God tells us in His word, over and over again, in plain and simple words that “No, you have not been good enough.  Not today, or any other day of your entire life.  Not even close.”  In fact, I would not bet on the best 15 minutes of my life to get me into heaven, because it won’t. The truth is, no matter who you are, no matter how good your intentions are, you cannot be good enough to stand before God as righteous.  The Apostle Paul couldn’t.  Peter couldn’t.  Abraham couldn’t.  Billy Graham couldn’t, and the Pope most certainly couldn’t.  Nobody, not one of the great heroes of the Bible, and not one of the religious leaders of today, could stand on their works as justification for their salvation.   But God does not leave you with just the statement that your works are as filthy rags before His Holiness.  The good news proclaimed in His word is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has done all the work for your salvation.  Now, all you have to do is believe on Him, confess and repent of your sins, and accept God’s gracious gift of eternal life.  That is all there is to it.  It is so simple, it is difficult.  It is difficult because most people can’t believe it is that simple.  It is simple because God did the difficult part.  Don’t believe for an instant that your salvation came easily and without great sacrifice.  God choose His only begotten Son to die on the cross for you as payment for your sin, and so that your salvation might be simple.   Click on the link below to hear a message on the gospel truth that salvation is by God’s grace and not works. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

People are drawn to religion.  Any form of religion.  Be it the religion of evolution, or atheism, or voodoo, or satanic cults, man wants to worship something.  The world is full of false religions started by Satan who understands man’s desire to worship.  He just wants to be the object of man’s worship.   Every religion that Satan starts is just a distraction from the real worship of the almighty God.  Satan’s goal is to send you to hell, by deceiving you into believing that you can work your way into heaven.  He wants you to believe that it is the offering that makes a difference in men today.  The offering of the lost person is his works.  The lost person believes it is his good works that matter, that make him better or worse than someone else.  A recent poll stated that a majority of Americans believed that the basis that someone would get into heaven would be on how good their works were.  It also said that if people believed in a hell, that only the really bad people would go there.  Without a doubt this is the best false religion that Satan has going.  But no true believer takes the position that he is better than anyone else. The thing that makes him a Christian is that he recognizes that he is a sinner like everyone else and that he needs an offering, he needs a sacrifice, and he needs Someone to take his place and to die for him.   That Someone is Jesus Christ.   As believers, we know that for our righteousness to be acceptable to God it must be a perfect righteousness, one that we are incapable of providing on our own, and that it can only come through the blood of Christ.  The Bible tells us that Christ died and was raised for our righteousness. He was the One who took our place.  Our righteousness is obtained through our faith in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Clink on the link below to hear a message on what it takes to defeat false religion. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

The Bible teaches that every person must make a choice about Jesus Christ.  It is the most important decision that you will make in your entire life.  Will you accept the offer of salvation provided by Jesus, will you choose eternal life, or not?  The alternative is to reject Christ and perish in your sin.   For such an important question, the natural response is to try find the absolute truths about sin and eternal life.  Yet, if you turn away from Jesus, where will you turn?  Where can you go for truth if not to Jesus? One of the places people turn to is the emptiness of atheism.  When someone turns to atheism, they choose to believe that in the beginning, the heavens and the earth created themselves, and then created man.  Now, this just doesn’t make sense at all, and anyone who tells you it does, is just not being intelligent.   Another place people turn to is the buttery cloud of philosophy.  Do you remember your philosophy classes in school?  Did it seem like they provided answers, real truths about life or eternity, or did they just raise more questions than answers? The next place that people turn to is the futility of materialism.  Do you think you can find absolute truths in the riches of the world?  The sad truth is that materialism can never satisfy the deepest longing of your heart.  God made you for Himself, and even if you have material things, you will still find your heart and life empty without Him.   The next place people look for truth is the dead end of false religions.  Many turn away from Christ to another religion.  But remember what Peter said to Jesus: “To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”  You can go to another religion, but it is Christ alone that has the words of eternal life.   So, who can you turn to for the words of truth and eternal life?  Nowhere, but Jesus. Click on the link below to hear a message on the choice about Jesus Christ that every person must make.   This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

In today’s lesson, the Apostle Paul will present the nation Israel with a choice, a moment, when they must choose or reject the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Paul is telling the Jews what the resurrection of Jesus meant to them.  It was an opportunity for salvation.   This is the good news of the gospel message of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.  The best news this world has ever heard came from a graveyard just outside Jerusalem: “He is not here … he is risen” (Matthew 28:6). The gospel is good news. The bad news is that we are sinners.  Sinners by birth, sinners by nature, sinners by choice, sinners by practice, and sinners under condemnation. All of us, without the Lord Jesus Christ, are in debt to God, defiled by sin, and sin has dominion over us.  That is the bad news about sin. So, what is the good news that obliterates the bad news?  The Good news is that Jesus died for our sins. Jesus died because of our sins, and for our sins. It was our sins that were the nails that held Him to the cross. Our hard hearts were the hammers that drove those nails into His quivering palms and feet. He died for our sin. When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), that literally means “it is paid in full.” Jesus paid it all. The sin debt is blotted out by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus also deals with the defilement of sin. It is not enough to be pardoned from our sins, for there is still that defilement, that sentence of death in our body.  Jesus, by His sacrifice, not only pays our sin debt, but Jesus also deals with our sin defilement.  And then, by His resurrection, Jesus conquers death, and sin no longer has dominion over us, and we will have eternal life with Jesus in Heaven. Click on the link below to hear a message on the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you will believe it, and receive it, then you will be saved. There is no other way that you can be saved apart from the gospel.   This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

In today’s message we are going to talk about Israel’s mistake, which was the murder of the Son of God, the Promised Messiah. It was their crowning act of defiance and wickedness against God.  But they were not alone. The same attitudes of ignorance of the Scriptures, and willful disobedience are attitudes that we find in each of us.  They are the sinful attitudes that nailed Jesus to the cross.  Self-righteous religion crucified Jesus.  Religion without true repentance and change of heart is a dangerous thing.  You have religion, but you don’t have righteousness.  You have Christian culture, but you don’t have Christ.   Hypocrisy crucified Christ.  The real danger of hypocrisy is what it does to others around the hypocrite.  Some people will miss heaven because they have judged Christianity on the basis of what they see in a hypocrite.  Cowardly compromise crucified Jesus. Fear is the number one reason many Christians do not take a stand for Jesus when they are out with their friends.  It is that fear of being separate, and different, that leads many into sin.   Thoughtless conformity crucified Jesus. The biggest cult in America is the cult of conformity.  You can listen to the crowd and form your opinions from the polls of the day, or you can say, “I will follow Jesus, come what may.” Hard-hearted cruelty crucified Jesus. We live in a world today where some people are absolutely coldhearted, especially when it comes to Jesus and His crucifixion.  A person does not have to kill someone to be hard-hearted.  They just have to reject the love of the Father. Casual indifference crucified Jesus. It takes more than sentimentality or crocodile tears to change a life.  Some people come to church every Sunday, listen to the message, and maybe even make a few notes.  But it never changes their lives.   Click on the link below to hear a message on the mistakes we have each made that led Jesus Christ to the cross. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

ISRAEL’S MISSION (Acts 13:14-25) Today’s lesson is about Paul beginning his first missionary journey. It is when we know the will of God, and we are obedient to it, that there is no challenge too great, no danger too hard to face, the key is seeking and finding the will of God. The question becomes how do you decide when and where to move in the work of Lord? Certainly, for most believers, the most difficult part is separating the desire of our own heart from the desires of the Lord. Sometimes they coincide, and sometimes they don’t. Seeking the Lord’s will is something each Christian should be doing on a daily basis. Finding the Lord’s will is the result of quiet, careful, meditation on the Word of God with a surrendered heart, and an open ear. So how do you know which way is right? Ask these questions: 1) Is your heart in a condition that can even hear the will of God? In other words, are you speaking from a surrendered heart that is fully obedient to God?   2) Have you prayed and asked God to reveal the sin that is in your heart, and then confessed and repented of it? If there is unconfessed and unrepented sin in your life, that sin will keep you from hearing God’s will. 3) Have you searched God’s Word for the answer to your question of God’s will for your life? The answer to most of life’s questions can be found in the Scriptures that God has given us.   4) Have you prayed about the question and then listened for God’s response, or have you simply told God the answer you want to hear?   5) Is what you want meeting the purpose of Christ for this church being here, or for you still being on this earth? For example, Will it bring lost people to know Him?   6) Are you willing to accept God’s answer, whatever it may be?   Click on the link below to hear a message on how Finding the Lord’s will is the result of quiet, careful, meditation on the Word of God with a surrendered heart, and prayer with an open ear. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

Let me ask you a question, how long has the Holy Spirit of God stood outside the door of your heart, knocking, asking that you let Him in?  You can just imagine His thoughts while He waits on you to respond, “I know he is in there, I know he has needs, if he would just open the door I could answer all of his prayers, but he has to open the door first.”  The Holy Spirit will never overpower us, even though He easily could.  The Holy Spirit will patiently wait for our response.   2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God’s desire is that you will accept His offer of forgiveness of your sins and eternal life.  He is patient as He waits for you to choose to open the door of your heart to allow the Holy Spirit of God to become the president of your life.   Yet, God also tells us in His Word, that those who refuse to answer the knock of the Holy Spirit, those who reject the light that is Jesus Christ, will face an eternity in the fires of hell, separated from God, and all that is Holy.  The only unforgivable sin is rejecting Jesus Christ as your Savior.   But, the Holy Spirit not only stands outside the heart of the lost person knocking, He also knocks within the hearts of believers.  The Holy Spirit is always present within the heart of the believer, and when He wants to fill another area of the life of the believer, or when He has some task for the believer to fulfill.  It is then that the Holy Spirit knocks and the believer must choose whether to respond or not.  Let me ask, is the Holy Spirit knocking on your heart, either from the outside for the unbeliever, or from the inside of the heart of a believer?  If so, respond, open the door and let the blessings of a gracious God fill your life.   Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Holy Spirit knocks on your heart. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

Today, I want to talk to you about prayer, not just “now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep” kind of prayer, but victorious prayer. As you read the Book of Acts, there is the shout of victory, the ring of victory, and the shout of triumph on every page in the Book of Acts. These people learned how to pray, and they saturated their lives with prayer. And, God gave the victory. Compare that with the average Christian today. Compare that with the average church today. We are failing in our battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And, the reason that we fail, is that, primarily and fundamentally, we do not know how to pray.   Now, this next statement that I am going to make is one of the most important Bible truths that every Christian needs to understand all the way down into their heart of hearts.  And without a doubt, it is most staggering thought that you could ever have in your life.  When I really stop to consider the impact of this truth on my life, I cannot describe in words the weight of that thought as it settles on me.  I am going to tell you what it is, and when I tell you what it is, you are going to say, “Well, everybody knows that.” And so do I, but yet, I cannot tell you how important this truth is. Are you ready for it?  Here it is: “God answers prayer.”  Ask yourself “Is that really true?  That the One who made the universe, the God of all eternities, will hear me, and I can have influence in His court? Me—He will hear me! I can pray, and He will hear me and answer me.”   God said,  Jer 33:3 3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. KJV What a thought!  That we can have the privilege to pray to Almighty God! Now, if that is true—and it is true—then we had better learn how to pray.  We can have an audience with the King of kings. Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can have victory through prayer. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

Prayer is to be a central part of our Christian life.  The Bible tells us to pray unceasingly, for prayer is the vital breath of the Christian.  God communicates with us through our prayer life. We also bring our needs before God during our prayer life.  And the main theme of our lesson today will be how we pray expectantly for God to provide answers to our prayers.   If you want God to give you the things you pray for, the very first thing you must do is to find out what the will of God is for the matter that you are praying about.   “The prayer that is answered is the prayer that begins in heaven.”   This means figure out what God wants for your life, pray for it, and then receive it.  To even think that God is going to give you things that are not in His will for your life, is naive at best, and arrogant at worst.  If you as a parent will not give your children things you know are not good for them, then why would you think that your Heavenly Father would do so.  The prayers that we bring before the Almighty, Sovereign, God of the universe, must come from a surrendered heart.  This is not a heart that commits to God for a couple of days a week.  This is a heart that has fully, and totally, surrendered its will to the will of God. It is this surrender, this faith in the desire of God to give us all things that are for our good, the faith that God will do as He has promised in His word, that allows us to pray expectantly that God will answer our prayers.   There is not a failure in your life except that which is really a prayer failure.   There is not a sin in your life that proper prayer would not have avoided.  There is not a need in your life that could not be met if you learned to pray with power, praise, and with an earnest expectation. Click on the link below to hear a message on how to pray expectantly.  If you do not have power in your prayer life, then come to the Lord today and say “Lord, teach me to pray.”  God will answer that prayer. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

Today, we are going to study about what a Christian is and how you go about becoming one.  When you look up the word Christian in the dictionary you will find several meanings of the word, from a believer in Jesus Christ as Savior, to having something to do with a Christian organization, a church, or a nation.   Although it is not true today, for much of our nation’s history, the world’s image of the U.S. was that of a Christian nation and anybody coming from it must be a Christian, just like anybody coming from an Islamic nation must be a Muslim.  This was something we treasured and took great honor in.  However, this view has not always been favorable in the eyes of the rest of the world, and there are many in our society who have succeeded in changing this image away from our Christian heritage.  The true meaning of the word Christian is quite different from that of the world’s definition.  In fact, Satan has been working hard to make the definition to be something generic, to be something that has no real special meaning or power behind it.   So, what is a Christian?  The disciples were called Christians by God.  God gave this name to those who had received the Word of God in their hearts.  They received the gospel and were, therefore, born again through the power of the risen Christ in heaven.  They were Christians not because they lived in America, or attended a specific church, they were Christians because they belonged to Christ.   In Cantonese, the word for Christian is “Yasu-yan.”  Yasu is their word for Jesus, and yan is the word for man.  A Christian is a Jesus-man in their language.  I like that name.  Jesus-man, because it means that we belong to Jesus.  We are made Christians by Christ.  As Christians we are given the light that is Jesus Christ to live within us. Click on the link below to hear a message on what it means to be a Christian. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

I want us to think about someone that I love, as well as something I love, because the something I love is the Word of God, and the someone I love is the Lord Jesus, who is revealed in the Word of God. And today, I want to talk to you about the Jesus of the Old Testament. Would you like to be able to understand the Old Testament? Would you like to get into some of the mystery rooms of the Old Testament? Well, there is a master key that unlocks the doors to the mystery rooms of the Old Testament, and that master key is the Lord Jesus Christ. And, if you will use a Christcentric approach to the Old Testament, it will burst aflame in your hands. As a matter of fact, if you read the Old Testament and you don’t find Jesus, then you need to go back and reread it because you missed the message. The Old Testament is a “Him” book. It is about Him. It is about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, without Jesus, the Old Testament is a book, of unexplained ceremonies. They won’t make sense. Without Jesus It is a book of unfulfilled prophecies. And, Without Jesus It is a book of unattainable standards. If you try to live by the Old Testament without the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will not make it.  That is what you find in the Old Testament. You’ll find all of these laws and ceremonies and practices, and these types, and illustrations. But, as you step back, there He is—Jesus, the Son of God.  Jesus is there in portrait. He’s the Prophet. He’s the Priest. He’s the King. And then, you look at the fulfilled prophecies, and you say, “How can this happen apart from divine inspiration?” Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Old Testament says that somebody is coming. The New Testament says that somebody has come. And, the book of the Revelation says that somebody is coming again. And, the New Testament tells you how Jesus, who is coming, gets you ready for His Second Coming, how you can know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

LEARNING TO SHARE YOUR FAITH (Acts 10:34-48) Let me tell you something very important, the door to salvation and eternal life in heaven with God is very wide.  The Bible tells us that, “There is no respect of persons,” and best of all it says in Revelation 22:17: “Whosoever will may come.”  The Bible also says that if anyone will believe on Him, that person will “receive remission of sins.”   So, I want you to say to yourself this morning, “I can be saved if I want to be saved.” God did not say that only some people can be saved, and other people cannot be saved, that some are in a select group. No, “there is no respect of persons with God,” none whatsoever. If you go to hell, a brokenhearted God will watch you drop into hell. It is not God’s plan that you die and go to hell. “The Lord is … not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:9)  But, the second thing is, if you are going to be saved, then you are going to be saved by Jesus, or you are not going to be saved at all. Jesus is not a good way to go to heaven. Jesus is not the best way to go to heaven. Jesus is the only way to go to heaven. And, if Jesus is not the only way, then He is none of the ways. He is not just one of the ways; He is either the only way or none of the ways.  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 Now, that is either true or false.  If it is true, then He is the only way. If it is false, then He is a liar and He is not any of the ways. So, you can’t just kind of tip your hat to Jesus; you have to bow your knee to Jesus. And so, the door is very wide, but the way is very narrow.  Anybody can come through the door to Jesus, but the only way that you can come to God the Father is through the Lord Jesus Christ.  Click on the link below to hear a message on how to share your faith and lead someone to that wide open door. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Acts 10:24-48) In today’s message, we have two men, one lost, one a man of God, and we have the Holy Spirit of God, and the Word of God, all coming together to bring about the conversion of a group of Gentiles. What I like about this section of verses is that they are a tremendous example of how to witness to a lost person that has been prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive the Word of God. Peter is given the chance to answer the question of why he believes in Jesus Christ, and then he tells Cornelius why it is important for him to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, as well.  Peter proclaims that he saw what Jesus did, he saw the miracles, he saw Him crucified, and then best of all, he saw Jesus resurrected from the dead, walking amongst us. It is with this foundation that Peter brings Cornelius to the decision point of choosing to accept Jesus, or to reject Him.  It is the same decision that each person must ultimately make, for it is our acceptance or rejection of Jesus as our Lord and Master that will determine our fate in eternity.   Christianity is not just a creed, a code, a cause, or a church.  It is a vital relationship with Jesus Christ.  He alone has the words of eternal life.  In Him dwells all the fullness and the wisdom of God.  Only Jesus can meet the deepest desires of the human heart.   Peter declared that God raised Jesus up on the third day, and it is this resurrection fact that sets Christianity apart from all of the other religions.  We do not preach a religion filled with rituals and rules.  We preach a risen, living Christ.   Christianity does not say, “Come and keep these commandments,” or “Observe these ordinances,” or “Worship these relics,” or even “Perform these penances.”   Christianity says, “Come meet the risen, living Jesus Christ in whom salvation rests.” Our relationship as believers is with a risen Savior, and it is that relationship that determines our eternal destiny.  Jesus died for our sins, and He was raised again for our justification.  It is the blood of Jesus Christ that purchased our redemption, and it is the living Christ that sits at the right hand of the Father.  It is the living Christ that will clothe us with the robes of righteousness and proclaim us to the Father.   Click on the link below to hear a message on the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE HOLY SPIRIT PREPARES THE HEART (Acts 9:32-10:23) Today’s lesson is a continuation of the three conversions that we began to study with the salvation experience of the Ethiopian eunuch, followed by the conversion of Saul of Tarsus as he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.   In each of these examples, we looked at the three elements that brought these men to the feet of the Savior.  It is through these three elements that we can see how God works to bring a person to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  It is through these three elements that man is given the choice to accept Christ and make Him their Lord and Savior, or reject Him. First, the Holy Spirit of God who begins the work in the heart of the lost person.  This is essential, for without this work nothing will happen.  We will see a tremendous example of this as the Holy Spirit prepares the heart of Cornelius. Second, the Word of God.  This is also essential, for it is the Word of God that provides the basis of our faith.  It is because we know that its promises are true that our faith in Jesus rests.   Third, the man of God.  When God gets ready to save somebody, He uses human instrumentality.  God doesn’t reach out of Heaven and simply convict, and convert, and save a person without human instrumentality being involved someway. That is the plan of God.  Now, I am not saying that God couldn’t do it by Himself, for He can do anything He wants, but that is not His plan.  Listen, the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God is primarily a ministry of cooperation. He will not do it without you, and you cannot do it without Him.  He will not do it without you, and you cannot do it without Him.  The Bible tells us that faith cometh by the hearing of the Word of God, and in today’s lesson it will be Peter that the Holy Spirit prepares as the man of God.   It is important to understand the concept that as a lost person it is our sins that condemn us, but that is not what sends us to an eternity in hell.  We will be judged and condemned to the fires of hell for the light of Jesus Christ that we have rejected.  It is the rejection of Jesus as our Savior that sends us to hell, not the fact of our sins.   Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Holy Spirit works to prepare the heart of a believer. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

HEARING AND DOING THE WILL OF GOD (Acts 9:1-27) I want to talk today about Hearing and Doing the Will of God.  Scripture tells us that we are all called to be missionaries.  However, not everyone is called to be a fulltime vocational missionary.  But, whether it is across the street, or around the world, we are all called to carry the light of Jesus Christ.  And I know that if you are a child of God, and understand the Bible, then you believe that.   If I were to ask you, who is the world’s greatest missionary that has ever lived, I think we would all say that his name was Paul, a missionary named Paul. Without a doubt, without equivocation or contradiction, I believe that we would have to say that the Apostle Paul was the world’s greatest missionary, and what I want us to do today is to hear how God laid the missionary call on the heart of the Apostle Paul. Now, as we do that, it is going to speak to us because we are going to find some principles as to how God works and how God speaks. Certainly, an important question that people have, who are sincere in their desire to serve God, is “How can I know the will of God for my life?” And, that is an excellent question, and there is a Biblical answer.  This question is important because, as servants of God, we must know the will of God for our lives. Success in life is not necessarily making a lot of money or being famous, but it is the progressive realization of the will of God for your life. That is success. And, who doesn’t want to be successful? Click on the link below to hear a message on Hearing and Doing the Will of God in your life. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE MARKS OF A MAN MADE NEW (Acts 9:17-22) When we make Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, we become a new creation.  We are made new.  A great preacher once said, “Nature forms us. Sin deforms us. School informs us. Prison reforms us. But, only Christ transforms us.”  In Christ, we become new. A Christian is not just somebody who has become nice; he has become new. He doesn’t just turn over a new leaf; he receives a new life. A Christian is not like a tadpole that has become a frog, which has gone through a series of changes, but basically, it is the same creature. No, a Christian is more like a frog that has received the kiss of grace and has become a prince.  That is what we are. We are changed radically and dramatically.  We are a new creature. When Saul of Tarsus met the Lord Jesus on that road to Damascus, Saul asked the two greatest questions that anybody in this world could ever ask: “Who art thou, Lord?” and “Lord, what [would you] have me to do?”  Somebody has said that the Apostle Paul spent the rest of his life finding the answer to those two questions: “Who art thou, Lord?” and “Lord, what [would you] have me to do?”  They truly are wonderful questions! I would to God that everyone in the whole wide world would sincerely ask those questions: Who is Jesus, and what does Jesus want me to do?   As you study the Bible, you will see that the Bible doesn’t put the emphasis upon receiving Christ as Savior.  The Bible puts the emphasis upon making Jesus Lord. And, when you make Jesus Christ Lord, He is, therefore, your Savior. Now, I’m not saying that He doesn’t save.  Indeed, He does save.  But, while the Bible mentions Him as Savior 24 times, it mentions Him as Lord 433 times. When they spoke of the Lord Jesus, they called Him “the Lord Jesus.” Nobody is saved, who has not made Jesus Lord.  Listen, you cannot have what He gives—salvation—unless you receive what He is—and that is Lord. Click on the link below to hear a message on the marks of a man made new in Christ. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

SAUL’S COMMISSION (Acts 9:9-31) As I prepared the lesson this week, I began to consider how it described the tremendous life changing effect that accepting Jesus as your Savior can have.  Statistics tell us that the vast majority of conversions take place when a person is young.  In fact, the older a person gets, the less likely they are to accept the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  This is why is it is so important that our children are taught the Word of God from an early age.  For an adult, accepting Christ may mean changing your friends, changing the way you spend your entertainment time, and changing what you watch on TV and social media.  It can mean being ridiculed by, or even ostracized from, your family.   All of your preconceived notions about God that have been engrained in your mind from our public education system and the media, about the absolute moral truths that are found in the Bible, your ideas about the Bible itself, and about who Jesus is, and what He did for you, are suddenly changed.  For many new believers, there is a period of loneliness as they move away from old relationships and search for new ones.   In today’s lesson we will see Saul go through this change, and then we will see Barnabas as he befriends the new Saul when no one else would, and then we will see the power of the Holy Spirit create a tremendous new warrior for Christ in Saul.  If nothing else, this lesson should challenge each of us to be open to welcoming new believers, mentoring them, and letting them know that they have a brand new family to be a part of.   Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul, was a chosen vessel, as we all are.  No two believers are alike.  We all have been prepared by God to do His will in this world.  Saul was the vessel chosen to carry the saving name of Jesus before the Gentiles, kings, and Israel, in that order.  He was to be more than anything else, an apostle to the Gentiles.  His training and his background prepared him in ways that not even Peter could match.  Nobody else within the new church had Paul’s intellect, and training, and God would use these tools to the good of His will.   Click on the link below to hear a message on how Saul of Tarsus, the greatest enemy of the body of Christ, became the apostle Paul, the greatest missionary of the Gentile world.   This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

FINDING SALVATION AT THE FEET OF THE SAVIOR (Acts 8:30-9:8) For it is at the feet of the Savior, Jesus Christ, that everyone’s salvation takes place.  It is by no other name in heaven above, or on the earth, or below the earth, that salvation can occur.  It is only by the blood of Jesus Christ that our salvation can be purchased.  In today’s message we will see that in every conversion there are three ingredients that are brought to bear to create that conversion. First, there is the work of the Holy Spirit: The Spirit of God goes ahead to prepare the heart of the lost person, and also to prepare the messenger.  This leading of the Spirit of God is absolutely essential.  Unfortunately, in many cases, we get ahead of the Holy Spirit and barge forward before He has set the stage for us.  We ought to make it a matter of definite prayer before we talk to anyone. We should talk to the Lord about that person, before, we talk to them about the Lord. It is not simply that we need the Holy Spirit to lead us. What we need is for the Spirit of God to go ahead of us and prepare the way, then to call us up to where He is.  The second ingredient that is brought to bear is The Word of God:  The Word of God is absolutely essential. The Holy Spirit will take the things of Christ and will reveal them to an individual. It is the Spirit of God, using the Word of God, that brings the knowledge of God, and the faith in God.  For it is in the Word of God that the very basis of our faith is found.  Without the promises of the Word of God, our faith is empty and without merit.   The third ingredient is the man of God:  When God gets ready to save somebody, He uses human instrumentality. God doesn’t reach out of Heaven and simply convict, convert, and save a person without human instrumentality being involved someway. That is the plan of God.  The ministry of the Holy Spirit of God is primarily a ministry of cooperation. He will not do it without you, and you cannot do it without Him.  Now, it doesn’t have to be a preacher, or a missionary, it could simply be a friend or a stranger, that brings to that person the Word of God.  It could be by how they live their lives that causes them to ask questions, or by direct witness.  I believe that the Spirit of God, uses the man of God, who delivers the Word of God, to produce a son of God, one who is born again.  Click on the link below to hear a message on how salvation can be found at the feet of the Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

BELIEVER’S BAPTISM (Acts 8:35-39) In today’s message I want to show you what the Bible has to say about Believer’s Baptism. I want you to understand the importance of the ordinance of Believer’s Baptism, because we dare not minimize it. Baptism has a message in it, and it speaks primarily of three things.   First, it speaks of our past redemption. What I mean by that is, baptism is a portrayal of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   Second, it pictures my present regeneration. Because, I have died to the old way, and I have been raised to walk in a new life. I died with Him. I was buried with Him. I rose with Him. I am now living in the power of His resurrection. Third, it pictures my prospective resurrection.  One day I will die, and they’ll carry my dead, empty, body out to some cemetery, and they will put me beneath the ground.  And one of these days, our Lord Jesus is going to “[come] in the glory of [the] Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38) And, there will come “the voice of the archangel, and … the trump of God: and the dead in Christ [will] rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) And, just as I came up out of that water when I was baptized, I am going to come up out of this ground. I am going to be raised with the Lord Jesus in a glorified body, and that glorified body is going to meet up with my spirit and soul to be with Jesus forever and ever. That is what baptism is all about. Baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a liquid tomb. And, when a person is baptized and he is put beneath the water, that symbolizes a burial. When he comes up out of the water, that symbolizes a resurrection. Now, it symbolizes primarily the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And every time a person is baptized, he is preaching that he believes what literally happened is that Jesus died, that Jesus was buried, and that Jesus rose again. And, while baptism does not bring salvation, it is an answer of obedience to our Lord. And, when you obey our Lord, that is when the joy begins. If you are having trouble, difficulty, in your Christian life and you are not growing—you are saying, “What’s wrong with me?”—then why don’t you go back and do a check up—not just with the command to be baptized, but any command in the Word of God. And when you begin to obey, God begins to manifest Himself to you. Click on the link below to hear a message on the meaning of Believer’s Baptism and why it is important to you. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

DON’T GO TO HEAVEN ALONE (Acts 8:26-35) The title of today’s lesson is “Don’t Go to Heaven Alone.” Instead, take somebody with you. I want to talk to you about how to win men, women, boys, and girls to Jesus Christ.  Did you know that we have an ability, and a joy, that angels don’t have? That is to win souls. Did you know that angels can’t do what we can do? And did you know that winning a soul is something that we can do now, that we will not be able to do when we get to Heaven? There is something, there is a joy, that Earth has that Heaven knows nothing about, and that is the winning of souls. And my, how you ought to be interested—not only in going to Heaven, but in taking somebody with you! The simple truth is that you are not fit to be a servant of God, if you are not willing to witness.  Amen? Every servant of God is to be filled with the Holy Spirit who can witness through you.  The ministry of the Holy Spirit of God is primarily a ministry of cooperation. He will not do it without you, and you cannot do it without Him.  It is His ability, and your availability. It is His power, and it is your personality. It is His work, but it is your witness. That is God’s plan—not God doing it all, not you doing it all, but God doing it through you. And, in a Christian, Christ lives again. The Church is the Body of Christ. And the Lord has said, “Ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8). We ought to be sharing the message of Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit is preparing somebody in your world.  And God the Holy Spirit wants to find somebody that He can use, somebody who will be insistent to the cause of the Spirit. That is the way God does it. Oh, it is time that we got excited about winning people to Jesus Christ! What is it all about? Why did Jesus Christ hang naked on a cross in agony and blood? The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.  Getting souls saved is what it is all about. The Bible says, “He that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30).  We all have members in our family who are lost. One day, the clods will fall on that casket, and every clod will say, “Lost, lost, lost.” You’ll say, “My God, why didn’t I witness?”  So, I want to tell you, that it is time we got excited about what excites God, and that is bringing people to Jesus Christ.  Click on the link below to hear a message on how to be a soul winner for Christ, and don’t go to Heaven alone, take somebody with you.  This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE DEVIL’S RELIGION (Acts 8:5-25) In today’s lesson, we will be talking about false religion.  The title of the lesson is The Devil’s Religion” for the simple reason that all false religion comes from the Devil.   I want you to recall that the general heading of our study of the book of Acts is “That Old-Time Religion.” For that is exactly what we are learning about, that Old-Time Religion that so many of our parents, and grandparents, and great grandparents worshipped in.  However, in many churches, that Old-Time Religion has not been carried forward into the worship services of today.  Today, progressivism and social ethics have infected many of our churches and denominations.   So, what do I mean when I use the term “Old-Time Religion?”  I mean a religion that is based on the inerrant and infallible Word of God.  Where the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, and the bodily, physical, resurrection of our Lord, and what it means to us, is preached regularly.  That Jesus is the Son of God, and that salvation can only by obtained through Jesus Christ, and your sins are forgiven because God sent His only begotten Son to die on a cross so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  That your sins are redeemed by the washing of the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  That salvation is given by grace and grace alone, not by works.  Now, I could go on, but that is the general idea of what I mean when I talk about that Old-Time Religion that so many churches have pushed to the wayside in favor of the Devil’s religion, which is based on selective parts of the Bible, ignoring the parts they don’t like, and being deceitful about the parts they do like.  You see, if you don’t teach the whole Word of God, then what you teach is a false religion, or the Devil’s Religion.   Click on the link below to hear a message where we ask the question, Do you know God? I’m not asking you, are you a member of this church or any other church. I’m not asking you how religious or upstanding you are. Simon the sorcerer was religious, and he was in bondage, and in bitterness. He didn’t know Jesus. If you want to live a victorious Christian life, then beware of the devil’s religion, and come find the truth of God’s Word and promises found in that Old-Time Religion, that Bible religion. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE GOSPEL REACHES OUT BEYOND JERUSALEM (Acts 8:1-17) With the death of Stephen, the intent, and purpose, of the religious leaders changes from keeping the church from being created, to destroying it and anyone who would dare to become a member. Saul of Tarsus was put in charge of this persecution.  It was religion without the Holy Spirit that blinded Saul’s eyes, as it has many others throughout history.  When you look back at the history of this world, a significant portion of the wars that have occurred were fought because of the blindness that religion without the Holy Spirit brings to people.  Religion without the Holy Spirit is one of the cruelest forces in the world.   Click on the link below to hear a message that teaches us that being saved is much more than simply believing in Jesus.  Satan truly believes in Jesus, but he is not saved.  For a person to be saved they must Be convicted by the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit that convicts the lost person of the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ.  It is not true that a sinner, in and of himself, repents and believes, and then God enters into the process in forgiveness.  God seeks the sinner. It is God that calls man unto salvation.  Next, for a person to be saved, they must acknowledge and confess their sin before God.  Confession of sin on the part of the Christian is not a mere admission of that sin to God.  The act of confession includes the Christian coming into agreement with God in regard to his sin, of agreeing with God as to what He says about that sin, and what the Christian ought to do about it.  It requires the Christian to repent of that sin, meaning they have a change of heart about that sin.  It means stopping, turning around, and choosing to turn away from that sin and follow the will of the Holy Spirit in your life. Confession of Christ means the public acknowledgment of Christ and all that He is and stands for. The act of confession implies that the one confessing, or professing, the Lord Jesus, has come to agree with the Bible's estimate of Jesus. To confess Him means much more than to make a statement with the lips. It also means to back up that statement with the life.  It is one thing to say, "Jesus Christ is Lord," and quite another thing to surrender to Him and obey His will. The walk and the talk must go together. God desires that all men are to be saved, but that salvation requires all three elements, conviction, confession, and repentance.  And most of all it requires the cleansing power of the precious blood of Christ.    This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

WHERE DOES GOD LIVE? (Acts 7:47-49) The title of our lesson today is “Where Does God Live?”  I don’t know of any subject that excites me more than the answer to the question “Where Does God Live?”  And, I can tell you that if you will learn what I have to say today, not because I say it, but because of the truth of it, it will radically, dramatically, and eternally change your life.  So many of us think of God as sort of an absentee landholder.  That somehow, we are down here on earth, and He has saved us, forgiven our sins, and then given us a shove, and said, “Do the best you can.”  And He is up there in heaven peering down through the clouds, and every now and then, we are sending prayers up to Him and saying, “O God, as you sit at master control up there, do something to help me down here because I am in great, great difficulty.” And when we don’t see a response from God, we sometimes pray and say, “You know, I pray, and my prayers never got above the light bulbs.” If that is what you think, do you know what your problem is?  It is because you think God is way up there above the light bulbs.  Listen, God is beneath the light bulbs, as well as above the light bulbs, and that is what we need to learn. We need to learn where God is and where God lives. Let me ask a question, if you wanted to write God a letter, do you know His address? Do you have the zip code? Where does God live? Sometimes we say about the church we worship in, “Well, this is the house of God.” This is not the house of God. Now, it’s God’s house in the sense that He owns it, but “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:26, 28) But, this is not God’s address. As a matter of fact, God has been living in a series of houses, and I want to talk to you about those houses today, because when you learn this lesson, you will learn a great, great, truth.   Click on the link below to hear a message on where God lives, where God dwells.  God has moved into people. In the Old Testament, He had a temple for His people. In the New Testament, He has a people for a temple. We are the temple of God, and God lives in us.  That is the answer to the question “Where does God live?” The answer is God lives in us.   This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.