The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

DISCERNING BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN (Acts 5:12-42) Today’s lesson is about choices. The choice of following God, or of following Satan.  Now, you would probably say, “Well Keith, of course I will always make the choice of following God.”  But in reality, is it always that clear cut and that easy to determine which church we ought to attend, and which pastor is truly preaching God’s Word, or which gospel ministry we should support with our money?   To recognize the works and will of God requires three things: The first is that you must have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Master.  You cannot find God’s will until you do that first. Second, you must know God’s Word.  To discern truth from evil, requires that you have constantly studied and applied God’s Word to your life.  This is important because God will never ask you to do something that is against His revealed Word.   And then third, you must have fully surrendered your life to God.  God does not speak to a Christ follower that is in rebellion to Him in any part of his life.  Why should He tell you more, if you don’t obey Him with the things that you already know are His will?   To hear the Holy Spirit speak and guide you to the things of God, requires that you be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.  If the Holy Spirit is locked away in some deep, dark, closet that you only let out on Sunday, then you will not be able to discern the works and will of God, from those of Satan. Satan is walking among us like a roaring lion, looking for those that he might devour.  Satan’s greatest tool is deception and in today’s world we see this manifested in the occult.  The occult is active on our college campuses today and in the best sections of our cities. People are given over to witchcraft today. It is amazing how many people will buy their daily horoscope, which they will then follow. Many people carry amulets, good luck pieces, charms, little dolls, and patron saints of this or that. This is growing by leaps and bounds in a materialistic age and culture such as ours.   For what is the gospel?  It is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living and true God.  Do you have Him today? You either do, or you don’t. You either trust Him, or you do not trust Him. Either He is your Savior, or you do not have a Savior. That is the message. The apostles did not cease to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. Click on the link below to hear a message to learn how you can make sure that you do not miss the signs and miracles of a gracious God in your life.  Do not be deceived by Satan, the master of lies.  Find God’s will and surrender to it. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

LYING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT (Acts 5:1-11) Let me begin by saying that, as a follower of Christ, the Holy Spirit is your very best friend, and the Holy Spirit is Jesus in you.  He is the one who makes manifest the life of the Lord Jesus in your mortal flesh. What a wonderful, wonderful, friend the Holy Spirit is. In the passage of Scripture that I’m going to read to you today, we find a phrase about lying to the Holy Ghost.  Let me say this, all lies are serious.  Let me repeat that, all lies are serious.  Sometimes we tell little lies, we exaggerate a little bit, and we think that is not quite so serious.  For example, men, when your wife asks you if an outfit makes her look fat, do you tell the truth?  Of course, you do. Some lies we think are whimsical and maybe even humorous. But, a lie is a very serious thing.  The Bible tells us that Jesus is known as the truth.  On the other hand, the Bible tells us that Satan is the father of all lies.  Therefore, when you tell the truth you give God an opportunity to work. When you tell a lie, you tell a lie because Satan has already been working in you. God detests the sin of hypocrisy, the sin of pretense, the sin of saying we are one thing, but really being another. If you read about the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will find out that Jesus reserved his sternest words for hypocrites. There was one thing that Jesus Christ detested, and it was hypocrisy.  Let me make four observations, and four pleas with you today.  Number one, if you are a child of God that sins among the saints it is more serious than sin among the lost.  And, sin when God is working in revival power, is the most dangerous of all sin.  Number two, is that sin against the Holy Spirit is extremely serious. Do not tempt the Holy Spirit of God. Do not be a pretender.  Number three, I urge you to be on guard against hypocrisy in your own life. It is far better not to be what you ought to be than to pretend that you are what you are not. Preachers, and teachers, are often tempted to do that, to exaggerate, or to pretend devotion because we think that we are setting the example. In my estimation, I want my pastor, and my teacher, just to be honest and to tell it like it is in his heart. And, I want people to be honest. And, I believe when there is a spirit of honesty, even though there is a spirit of failure, God can work.  Don’t pretend a devotion to Jesus Christ that you don’t have.  Don’t lie to the Holy Ghost. And, last of all, don’t let some hypocrite keep you from getting the best out of life. Click on the link below to hear a message on what it means to lie to the Holy Spirit. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

A GODLY CHURCH MEMBER (Acts 4:36-37) In today’s lesson, I want to talk about what it means to be a godly church member.  If you could just model and mold a church member, the church member of your dreams, what would he or she be like? Well, I believe they would be like the man that we are going to read about today, a man named Barnabas. I love to be encouraged. I need encouragement. I am so grateful for people who encourage me. And I’ll tell you something else, I don’t like to be around discouraging people. Now, sometimes we have to. It comes with the territory. The fleas come with the dog.  But, here was a man named Barnabas who could lift your spirits. Did you know the Bible calls God the God of all encouragement?  That means that God has cornered the market on encouragement. He is the God of all encouragement.  An interesting fact is that the word “encouragement” or “consolation”, as they are used in the Bible are translated from the Greek word parakletos, which is the same word that is used for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. He is called the Paraclete, which comes from the Greek word parakletos. It’s the same word.  And so, here is a man who is doing for other people what the Holy Spirit does for the child of God, who comes inside us, alongside us, to encourage us, to give us comfort, to give us hope, to give us health, to get us on our way. And I’ve come to live long enough to see that there is not a person in this world that does not need encouragement.   Now, if God is the God of all encouragement, then the devil is the minister of discouragement. Discouragement comes from the devil. Let me tell you, discouragement is a major cause of failure. Every church, wherever you are, needs some Barnabas's. How did Barnabas get to be Barnabas to begin with? How was he such a good man to begin with? Well, the Bible says very clearly and very plainly that Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and faith. He was a good man. Why was he a good man? He was a good man because he was full of the Holy Ghost. Why was he full of the Holy Ghost? Because he was a man full of faith. And that is what we are going to talk about today. Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can be a godly church member. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

HOW TO PUT POWER IN YOUR PRAYER (Acts 4:23-33) The progressives in our country have recently been disparaging prayer as weak and powerless to stop tragedies from happening.  For example, a recent incident occurred at a Catholic school while the children were praying in a sanctuary.  The progressive’s argument was what use was prayer, for it did not protect those innocent children.  It became a talking point for several members of congress castigating those who asked for prayer for the families that lost a child, and for our nation that is being consumed by evil.   It is hard to believe that we, as a nation, have come to this point, but when you consider that these people do not believe that God exists, then it is logical that they do not believe in the power of prayer.  They miss the point that prayer is not a talisman to protect us, it is a direct communication with the Almighty God to provide strength to get through the tragedies, and evil, of this world.  Prayer is our fellowship with God who loves us, and whom we love. More than ever, I am totally convinced that the need of the hour is power in prayer.  Not merely to pray, but to pray with power—to pray so as to get your prayers answered.  You see, prayer is not getting God to agree with you.  Prayer is getting you to agree with God about what He is going to do.  God is absolutely sovereign.  We do not change God’s mind about things that He has foreknown from the foundation of time. Many of you know that my brother died a couple of weeks ago, and it was not because we did not pray with enough faith to heal him.  There were literally hundreds of people praying for him to be healed.  He died because it was God’s will that my brother would come home to be with Him.  And that was my prayer, that God’s will would be done in my brother’s life.  God, as our Creator, decides in His sovereign will, what will happen in this world, and nobody is going to name it, and claim it, to occur differently.   I firmly believe that in order to get our prayers answered, we need to first find out what God’s will is, and then pray for that to occur.  Do I believe that we should pray for God to heal those who are sick?  Absolutely.  Do I believe that God heals people today?  Absolutely.  But when we pray for God’s will to be done, then we can rejoice and praise God just as loudly when He heals someone, as when He chooses to bring someone home.  And I did exactly that, I praised God’s name when God chose to take my brother home. Click on the link below to hear a message on how prayer is a means of bringing the power of heaven into our lives.   This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE ALMIGHTY GOD (Acts 4:23-5:11) The message today speaks of how the early Christian church praised God for what He is, the omnipotent Creator of the universe.  They proclaimed “Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.” Sadly, this is something that most churches do not really believe today.  And you can know this is true, for if they did believe it, then they would not be taking the liberal positions in direct conflict with God’s word that they are taking.   You cannot believe that God is truly the Omnipotent Creator of the universe and then not accept His absolute truths about what is right and wrong.  God is unchanging, as are His truths, they do not change with the changing of society mores.  God as the all powerful Creator of the universe is the fundamental building block of the entire Bible.  Satan will do all he can to create lies and deceptions about who God is, and what the Holy Spirit says that He is in His Word.   God is the all powerful Creator of this universe, and since this is absolutely, wonderfully, magnificently, true, then Satan is no more than a second hand loser.  No wonder Satan hates this basic truth!  No wonder he has brought up his heavy artillery to discredit it in the minds of men.   For you see, if you abandon what the Holy Spirit says in Genesis 1 as not factual and unreliable, as mere mythology, as totally unacceptable to modern science, then satan has won.   If the Holy Spirit cannot be trusted when He tells of creation, then how can He be trusted when He tells of salvation? If what He says about earth in Genesis 1 can be questioned, then what He says about Heaven in Revelations 22 can be questioned.   If the Holy Spirit cannot be trusted in Genesis 1, then how can He be trusted in John 3:16? So, when someone tells you that the creation account in the Book of Genesis is just a theory, you must understand they are questioning the entire message of the Bible, including the Gospel. Click on the play button to hear a message that says, if we believe that God is the Creator.  If we believe that God deserves our worship and praise.  If we believe that all other beings, both spiritual and physical, are subject to the commands and permissive will of God.  Then, our fears should go away, and our faith should rise up in times of trial.  For who can harm us that is not under the permissive will of God?  And that knowledge is what gave these early believers holy boldness in the face of persecution, and it can give you that same holy boldness. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE SECRET TO HOLY BOLDNESS (Acts 4:1-20) Today, I want to talk about The Secret to Holy Boldness, or the secret to witnessing for Christ, even in the face of persecution.  I believe that we need an epidemic of Holy boldness from believers in our world today.  And, if you are one of those who wish that you had more courage to testify and witness for Jesus, then I want you to pay attention. I am convinced that many of us want to share our faith, and want to tell others about our Savior, but we have been intimidated by our lost friends and family, and society as a whole.  We are more concerned about their reaction to our witnessing for Christ, than we are about their eternal life and destiny.  And that makes us cowardly Christians.  And I believe that there are a lot of people who when they go out to testify for Jesus.  On the one hand, their loyalty makes them go, but on the other hand, their fear makes them slow, and they just are not the vibrant testimony for Jesus that they ought to be. Listen to me, if there is one message that the Church needs to preach today, it is that Jesus is the only way of salvation. Now, if you think that is narrow-minded, then don’t argue with me, go argue with God, because that is what He says in His Word.   If I cannot teach that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven, then I am not going to teach at all, because if Jesus Christ is not the only way to Heaven, then Jesus Christ is none of the ways to Heaven.  If Jesus Christ is not the only way to Heaven, then the Apostle Peter is a liar. Peter said in Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  Amen? If Jesus Christ is not the only way to Heaven, then Jesus Christ Himself is a fake, a fraud, and an imposter, for He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).  Holy boldness is saying, “Lord Jesus, If You are for me, then who can be against me? Lord Jesus, if You want to use me, then use me Lord. And I trust You to take care of me. And Lord, if You choose—if You choose to let me be put in jail—then I’ll rejoice that I am counted worthy to suffer shame for Your name. If you choose, Lord Jesus, that I suffer bodily harm, then Lord, nothing will come to me that will not come through You first. And Lord, You are my Commander-in-Chief, and Lord, I submit myself to you, and I will speak at Your command.”   Click on the play button to hear a message on the secret to Holy Boldness. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE FIRST PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH (Acts 4:1-22) As believers we are to obey those that God has placed in power over us, whether they be Caesar, or Nero, or our current leaders.  Yet, there are times when Caesar so abuses his power as to command that we do something morally or spiritually wrong.  That is where the believer must draw the line, even at the cost of death.  The believer must respectfully, but firmly, refuse to obey the commands of human authority when it defies the laws of God.  And when the time comes, and it will come, that we are prohibited from preaching and teaching the name of Jesus, that is when we must refuse to obey the command of the rulers placed in authority above us.   Peter does just that as he proclaims to the Sanhedrin, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”  This was Peter’s and John’s reply when they were commanded by the religious leaders to stop teaching in the name of Jesus.  They declared that they would continue to teach, preach, and heal in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, no matter the cost.   It is not by the name of Confucius, Buddha, or Allah, that a lost person can find salvation; not even by the name of one of the great heroes of the Bible, not Abraham, or Moses, can a lost person find salvation.  Only in the name of Jesus can salvation be found.  Jesus is the world’s only Savior.  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 The law can’t save you. Religion can’t save you, and there is absolutely no ceremony that can save you. You cannot get to Heaven through the pope. You cannot stand before God clothed in the robes of righteousness by doing more good works than bad works.  Your friends and family cannot pray you into heaven.  You cannot buy your way out of darkness and an eternity in Hell. There is only one way to get rid of Satan’s darkness, and that is the light of the Word of God, Jesus Christ the Son of the living God.  We have victory in Jesus because no force on the earth, or below the earth, can stand against the mighty majesty of His name.  When you come to Jesus for salvation, it is His blood that wipes away your sin.  It is His blood that provides eternal life for you.   Click on the play button to hear a message about the first persecution of the church that would dare to teach about the gospel message found in the name of Jesus. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE SECRET TO A BEAUTIFUL LIFE (Acts 3:1-21) Today’s message is about the miracle of the healing of a man that had been crippled from his birth.  When this man was born, and his father and mother took him and examined him, they noticed that something was not quite right with the little baby’s feet: his anklebones had not developed, nor his little feet. Somehow, they were not made whole, like feet should normally be for a little baby.  And this little boy never learned to walk. When other boys would go out to skip, run, and play, he couldn’t. Later on, when other men went to work, there was no work that he could do. All that they could do was to take this man every day and put him down there at the gate to the temple, the gate that was called Beautiful. He had his little tin cup there, and as people would come and go to worship, he would cry out, “Baksheesh! Baksheesh! Alms! Help the poor! Help the poor!” And people would drop their pennies and their coins into his tin cup. Day after day, that is the way he lived. People would come and go, and he was right there at the gate of the temple.  And here is this man just outside that Beautiful Gate, because he cannot enter through it.  That is because Levitical law said that a deformed man could not enter past that gate.  So, here he was, on the wrong side of a beautiful life. He is just outside the gate, and he’s crippled. Now, if you want a beautiful life, then I want you to picture yourself on the wrong side of the gate. Picture yourself, spiritually, as a cripple—unable to walk the walk of God, unable to work the work of God, unable to enter into the worship of God—on the wrong side of the gate. Picture a new life. Picture a gate gloriously beautiful.  Picture yourself on the wrong side of that gate, and you can’t enter in without a miracle. I want you to picture the Lord Jesus Christ who was in Simon Peter that day. I want you to picture Him coming by you today and looking down at you, and I want you to picture today Jesus reaching down to you with a nail-pierced hand, taking you by your right hand, raising you up, spiritually giving you a lift that will last, and giving to you the power to enter in through the gate to the ports of God.  That is what this miracle is all about. God wants to give you a new life, today. He wants to make something beautiful of your life.  Click on the play button to hear a message on the secret to a beautiful life. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

JESUS IS OFFERED TO THE NATION (Acts 3:1-26) The message today is about the rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah by the Jews.  As we talk about this, I want you to remember something.  The lesson focuses on the people of Jerusalem, because in the days immediately following the Day of Pentecost, that is where the church, the true body of believers, began. But this message is just as applicable to the people in the world today.  This message is about the rejection of Jesus Christ, and there are people all around us who have made the decision to do exactly that, to reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The Jews had bullied Pilate into crucifying the Son of the living God, even though they had Jesus walking among them, performing miracles, and still they rejected Him.  Yet, it is my sin that forced Jesus to go the cross.  The lost people of today, when they look upon a surrendered believer, they can see the light of Jesus Christ walking among them, and yet they reject the Prince of Life who is the author of the miracle of the new creation which is that believer.    It is important that you understand that nothing that I am going to say today should make you feel in some way less responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  For it was your sin and mine that Jesus willingly went to the cross to die for.  He willingly chose to lay down His life for a lost and hopeless world.  Each one of us is just as responsible for the death of Jesus Christ as the Jews who were standing in front of Peter. The events of Pentecost would have been the talk of all of Jerusalem.  There were people speaking in tongues, and a peasant fisherman preaching with power the word of God.  They had to be asking themselves, “How could this be happening?  What does it mean?  Is it true, as some have said, that we killed the Messiah?  No, that is not possible.”  The Holy Spirit has planted the seed of questions, and now He seeks them out to place a decision about Jesus Christ before them.   Click on the play button to hear a message on how the choice between eternal life with Jesus Christ in heaven, and an eternity in the Lake of Fire without God, depends on the decision you make about accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

GOD’S PATTERN FOR A CHURCH (Acts 2:22-26, 33-47) Our lesson today is about “God’s Pattern for a Church.” I believe this is important for us to understand because a New Testament church—a Spirit-filled, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring church—is a mighty tool in the hands of a holy God. And God’s pattern is found right here in the book of Acts. Now, I believe in my heart that God is giving the church one last mighty urge for the revival of all revivals before the night of all nights comes. I also believe that the world is looking at us one more time. They have tried everything—every form of government; every kind of leader; every excess of pleasure; everything that money can buy, that hearts desire, that minds can conceive—and they have found that nothing satisfies. And they are wondering one more time, do we have the answer? And the answer is yes! But when they look at us, I wonder what they’re going to see. Nietzsche was a cynic, an atheist; an ungodly, lascivious man. He looked at the church; he considered Christianity. Do you know what he said? He said, “If you want me to believe in your Redeemer, then you’re going to have to look a little more redeemed.” Now, you think about it. This world gets their idea of Jesus Christ not from the Word of God—because they don’t read it; they get it from us. In today’s lesson, I’m going to give you a description of a church triumphant.  Now, I believe that we could all agree that a Christian church exists for the purpose of magnifying Jesus through worship and the Word, and moving believers in Jesus toward maturity and ministry, and making Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations.  And the overarching theme of our church should be Making Jesus Known.   Click on the play button to hear a message that tells us that by God’s grace and for God’s glory, we need to be in the business of making Jesus known by living supernaturally. We cannot do it naturally; but there’s enough power in heaven. If we’ll wait for the anointing, if we will learn the Word of God, if we will be obedient, then we can see our world impacted for Jesus Christ. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE PERSON OF PENTECOST (Acts 2:1-5, 12-19, 38) The title of the today’s lesson is “The Person of Pentecost.”  And of course, that person of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit of God.  I said it that way because it is important that we understand that the Holy Spirit is a person. Never, ever, speak of the Holy Spirit as a thing, as an influence—a mere influence—an “it.” Some people speak of the Holy Spirit with the impersonal pronoun “it.”  That would be inappropriate to do so for any person, let alone the Person of God.    If someone were to leave here today and try to describe my appearance to someone, I hope that they wouldn’t say something like, “It wore a dark polo-shirt and jeans today.” I hope they would at least give me enough deference to use a personal pronoun when they refer to me, because I am not merely a thing, an influence; I am a person. And, God the Holy Spirit is a person;  And, having said that, I want you to notice with me four things about the Person of Pentecost, and I pray God that He will use Himself, the Holy Spirit, to etch and to burn this message into your heart and help you to live in that Pentecostal power that God wants us all to have. The first thing is that “The Person of Pentecost is a Possession to Be Received.” That is, God is going to give you the Holy Spirit. The gift is the Spirit Himself. When you repent, when you receive Christ Jesus as your personal Savior, when you are saved, when you are born again, you receive God’s gift, which is the Spirit Himself. And that happens immediately when a person is saved. The second thing is that “The Person of Pentecost is a Power to Be Released.” These verses speak of the power that is going to rest upon those who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the purpose of the Holy Spirit: to give power to people who do not have power. The third thing is that “The Person of Pentecost is a Presence to Be Revealed.” People come to see a fire.  You let a church get on fire for God; you let us get right with God, and I’ll tell you that the Holy Spirit of God is going to attract the people. The fourth thing is that “The Person of Pentecost is a Person to Be Recognized.” The Holy Spirit will continue to bless to the degree that we continue to say that God is responsible for the power in our lives, that the Holy Spirit is the business of transforming weak, stammering, people into His people doing His work.   Click on the play button to hear a message on the Person of Pentecost. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

CONVICTION AND REPENTANCE (Acts 2:37-47) Conviction is the Holy Spirit’s first work in a human heart. For the person who does not know Jesus as their Lord and Master, the Holy Spirit’s message is a single message, a very simple message, yet it is such a difficult message to accept.  The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment to come. Then, the Holy Spirit convicts of the nature of sin, of the need for righteousness, and of the nearness of judgment.   Next, the Holy Spirit makes people see their personal accountability before God for what they have done, and in particular their rejection of Jesus Christ.  This is important to understand because it is not the amount, or kind, of sin in our life that condemns us; it is the fact of sin in our life that condemns us.  But even more importantly, we will not be judged and sent to an eternity in hell because of our sin.  We will be judged and sent to an eternity in hell because of our rejection of Jesus Christ and the light of salvation that He has provided to us through the Holy Spirit.   Man does not work toward salvation.  Salvation is the work of God. The choice of God was our salvation.  When we are born, we are hopelessly lost.  It was the choice of God to provide His Son as our only hope for salvation.  Our only decision, our only action, is to accept Jesus and the salvation that He has provided for us.  When a sinner repents of his sins and believes in Christ, it is because God has brought him to do so through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.  Men do not turn from sin to God of their own initiative.  God must move them if they are ever to do so.  This includes the work of all of the good “agencies”, the church, the Christian witness, evangelism, and the social environment God has chosen to put us in, like being born of a Christian family, and in a Christian nation, but most of all it includes the inner prompting of 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.  God was in the process from the beginning, He established the plan of salvation, and then He works to bring about repentance and faith.  Our decision is to yield to a God who draws us to Himself, or reject Him.  We seek Him because He first sought us. Click on the play button to hear a message on the work of the Holy Spirit of God in bringing salvation and eternal life to whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE MESSIAH (Acts 2:25-36) In our message today, we continue listening to the first sermon of the new church age.  It was preached by a Holy Spirit filled and anointed Peter whose purpose was to convict the Jewish people of the terrible crime that they had committed.  For they had rejected and crucified the promised Christ, the Messiah that they had been waiting on for so long.  Now, Peter was offering them an opportunity to come to that Messiah for repentance and forgiveness.  Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost, in front of thousands of Jews from all over the world.  The Jews had just witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the 120 disciples speaking in the various tongues of their homelands.  They had come to celebrate the feast of Pentecost and instead they had witnessed a miracle.  Their reaction was one of confusion and mockery.  As he stood up to begin his sermon, Peter responds to the questions of the Jews by using Scripture.  Something they were very familiar with.  He proclaims that they should not be surprised by these events, as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is similar to those events prophesied by Joel that will take place in “The day of The Lord,” which refers to the Great Tribulation and Millennial Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, Peter starts to build his case for the proof that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah:  First, he proclaims that Jesus was a recognizable Messiah.  Jesus had performed miracles unlike anything ever seen before in the history of the world.  This was evidence that He had been approved of by God.  He was the one who had fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets. Next, Peter proclaims that Jesus was a rejected Messiah.  The crucifixion of Christ had been foreknown by God from the foundation of time.  When God acted in creation, He had also acted in redemption.  But this did not excuse the rejection of the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, by God’s people.   Then, Peter proclaimed the best news of all, that Jesus was the resurrected Messiah.  Jesus was alive, He could not be left in the grave.  Peter declared that it was impossible for God to have left Jesus in the grave. Jesus died for our sins, but He was sinless.  He arose in victory.  Click on the play button to hear a message on the wonderful truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKS (Acts 2:4-24) We certainly have seen a full list of Biblical doctrine in the messages over the last few weeks.  For we have seen the disciples wait on the Holy Spirit, and then we have seen them regenerated by the Holy Spirit, baptized by the Holy Spirit, sealed by the Holy Spirit, gifted by the Holy Spirit, anointed by the Holy Spirit, and then filled with the Holy Spirit, when it arrived with a display of awesome sound and awesome sight.  The disciples went up into that upper room a group of individuals, and then came down as members of one body, changed by the Holy Spirit into new creations as the body of Christ. We continue the same pattern this week as we get to see the Holy Spirit speak through believers who have surrendered to the will of God, who are now filled with the Holy Spirit and are allowing Him to work through them.   Now, I believe that if you were to ask most lost people and, unfortunately, a great many believers, if the Holy Spirit had ever spoken to them, the answer would be “No” and then they would give you this look like maybe you were crazy, or in need of some serious counseling.  In fact, most people don’t even believe the Holy Spirit exists.  But, of those groups that do believe that the Holy Spirit of God exists, many think of Him as only a mystical force or energy that moves around the world like wisp of wind.  Now, it is certainly true that the Holy Spirit does have force and energy, but He is also a Person, just as is the Father, and the Son, and one of the characteristics of a person is that they speak. Since this is true, what does the Holy Spirit say?  Jesus gave us the answer to that question when He announced the coming of the Comforter.  He tells us that the Holy Spirit testifies of Him.  He tells us that Jesus is alive, that Jesus loves you, and that Jesus died for your sins.  But, there is much more. Click on the play button to hear a message on what the Holy Spirit has to say to you, and through you.  It is a message that will embolden you to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

KEEPING YOUR SPIRITUAL FIRE BURNING, PART II (Acts 2:1-4) If we are to live the victorious Christian life, then we must have the spiritual fire of God’s Holy Spirit burning brightly in our lives.  We are absolutely powerless to be in God’s will without the Holy Spirit.   Fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit: It spreads: Fire begins small, but it can devour a forest or destroy a city. The convicting power of the Holy Spirit begins as small spark in the heart of a lost person, and then it spreads, from person to person as the new believer tells of his wonderful salvation. It burns:  Everything fire touches is transformed into fire.  The fire of the Holy Spirit transforms your old sinful nature into one that is righteous before God.   It purges: Fire sterilizes and kills germs, disease, and all impurities.  The Holy Spirit convicts the lost person of the sin in their lives, baptizes them into the body of Christ, and purifies them with the blood of Christ. It illuminates: We take for granted the light that comes from the flip of switch, yet for thousands of years, fire was man’s only source of artificial light.  It allowed men to work and walk in a dark world.  In the same manner, believers walk in a world dark with sin.  It is the Holy Spirit living in their hearts that speaks to them, provides discernment to them, and illuminates the mind of Christ for them. It warms:  Fire provides heat and comfort in a world full of cold and ice.  Jesus promised the disciples a Comforter.  The Holy Spirit is the Comforter to the believer in a cold, hard, world that has no love for them or their faith.  He comforts us when we are in trials.  He empowers us when we need Him most.  He enables us to live the Christian life. It smolders:  Men can resist and quench ordinary fire, but the fire of the Holy Spirit can never be put out.  Once the fire of the Holy Spirit is in your heart it will never leave you.  But, you can make it inoperative in your life.  If you allow unrepented sin in your life, it will smolder quietly in the heart of the believer, ignored, and then suddenly begin to spread again.  Click on the play button to hear a message on the four things that you must do to keep the spiritual fire burning in your life.   This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

KEEPING YOUR SPIRITUAL FIRE BURNING, PART I (Acts 2:1-4) We are going to be teaching today on this subject: “Keeping Your Spiritual Fire Burning.” And this is so important in this day, and in this age.  It seems to me that the world is searching for an answer to the questions they have about the meaning of life, and the truths about right and wrong.  Some are looking to the government for handouts to make them happy.  Some are looking to the educational institutions to make them happy.  Some are looking to their friends to make them happy.  Some are looking to religion for happiness.  But they will not find it in any of those places.  They will not find true happiness and fulfillment, until they find the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him their Lord and Savior.   On The Day of Pentecost, God created the church, the body of true believers to share His gospel message of truth and eternal life.  It is through this church that the Holy Spirit has all the answers that people are looking for.  We are that church, the church of the living God. Click on the play button to hear a message on how The Holy Spirit is the empowering fire of God. Fire gives power. Do you know what’s wrong with so many churches? There is no fire. And because there is no fire, there is no power.  Can you imagine a factory where everything in this factory is perfect? I mean, all of the machinery is in place, there are mighty wheels, and great pistons, and conveyor belts, and chains and hoists, and everything is there in the factory, but the factory is cold and dead, and nothing is happening. Somebody says, “Well, maybe we need to put some stained glass windows in the factory. Maybe we need to put a steeple on top of the factory. Maybe we need to put a big sign out in front of the factory. Maybe we need some robed choirs in the factory.” Then somebody says, “Wait a minute. There’s no fire in the boiler. That is what we need, is a fire in the boiler. That fire is where the power comes from.” And so many churches today, they have everything except fire. Fire is power. Jesus said, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”  You see rationalism, and ritualism, and traditionalism, and formalism, will not do it. It is not form. It is not facts. It is not fashion. It is fire. The Holy Spirit is the empowering fire of God. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD (Acts 1:9-11) Today’s message does not have the great theological Bible truths of the last several weeks, but it does have some good Bible history.  Our message today is somewhat workman like in that it talks about what the disciples did while they waited on the comforter that Jesus had promised them.  Today, we talk about the characteristics of the disciples, and then we discover that Peter is still just as impulsive as he has always been as he tries to lead the group in choosing a replacement for Judas.  And then lastly, we will set the stage for our discussion next week on the events of Pentecost.   The Bible tells us that the Old Testament Feast of Pentecost represents something—that is, it is the fulfillment of something.  The Feast of the Pentecost has been fulfilled in the birth of the church.  Pentecost was to depict the beginning and origin of the church. It spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit in the very particular ministry of calling a people out of this world to form the body of Christ, which is the church. Five minutes before the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost there was no church. Five minutes after the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost there was a church. In other words, what Bethlehem was to the birth of Christ, Jerusalem, on the Day of Pentecost, was to the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Click on the play button to hear a message on how it was at Pentecost that The Holy Spirit became incarnate. He began to baptize believers, which means that the Holy Spirit identified them with Christ as His body here on this earth. As believers, we are a part of that fulfillment today.  Our purpose on this earth today is to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us to gather all of the members of that great body of the church.  Jesus is coming again to gather that church up as His bride.  Our mission is to spread the gospel of Christ to the uttermost parts of the world.   This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD (Acts 1:9-11) Our message today is about the ascension of our Lord into Heaven.  Without a doubt, it is significant to our faith that Jesus is alive and working for us today.  Jesus did not just go off into heaven and leave us never to be heard from again.  He has provided us with a perfect, complete, salvation.  He is our great High Priest in the Holy Tabernacle in Heaven, He is our paraclete, our advocate, before the Father.  And He has promised to return for us.   Jesus is alive.  Jesus is working for us, and Jesus is coming back.  These are some of the things that distinguish our faith from all other religions.  These are the things that we base our hope on. You do not place your confidence in a mere man when you place your confidence in Jesus; you place your confidence in the God-man.  Because He is a man, He can sympathize with you and is able to meet your needs.  He is a royal priest.  He is a righteous priest.  He is a peace-promoting priest.  He is also a personal priest—He is for you personally.  He didn’t inherit the office; that is, He didn’t come in the line of Aaron.  He is an eternal priest.  If the work of Jesus Christ had ended with His death, burial and resurrection, then our salvation would be incomplete.  It is because Jesus is alive today and has ascended into heaven that He is our eternal and perfect High Priest.  It is because Jesus is living today and has ascended to heaven that our salvation was completed.  It is because Jesus is living today and has ascended to heaven that our salvation is being completed today.  It is because Jesus is living today and has ascended to heaven that our salvation will be completed in the future when the Lord gives us our glorified bodies.   We don’t often hear messages preached on the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Rightfully so, the evangelistic message of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord is talked about more frequently.  But the ascension of our Lord represents the hope and promise of the believer.  As a believer my Lord is alive, He is my advocate, and He is coming again for me.   This is the message we need to proclaim.  It is because we have the hope, the confident expectation, the promise, of the return of our Lord that we should feel the urgent need to proclaim the gospel message to a lost world.   Click on the play button to hear a message on what the Ascension of Jesus Christ means to you as a follower of Christ. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

THAT OLD-TIME RELIGION (Acts 1:1-9) The book of Acts is a wonderful, wonderful, book, and we are going to be looking at this book for quite a while. As a matter of fact, I got to thinking about a title for this particular study and I came up with “That Old-Time Religion.” Now, the reason that I want to call it “That Old-Time Religion” is that we need to take a look back, so that we might really face the future. And it is very important that we do this today, because it is the Old-Time Religion that needs to be the New-Time Religion. The book of Acts tells a very impressive story of what happened in the first century when the church was created.  The book of Acts is the story of success. It is the story of a church triumphant. Really, it is the story of a small group of unlettered, uncultured people with meager resources, very little money, no prestige, no colleges, no seminaries, no radio or television, no internet, Google didn’t exist, there were no printing presses, and no magnificent buildings in which to draw people in.  All they had was a small group of people who went out to tell the story of a publicly executed Jew.  They went out against great obstacles.  They faced the imperial might of Rome, the intellectual sophistication of Greece, the religious bigotry of that day, and they turned that world inside out, and upside down, for Jesus Christ. They did so much with so little.  Today, we do so little with so much.  Therefore, I believe we need to go back and see what they did, and how they did it. And for that reason, we are going to be studying the Book of Acts, which is the story of a church on fire with evangelism and growth, and I believe it can become our pattern for today. And I want God to burn the message into your heart. Click on the play button to hear a message on what Jesus can accomplish through you, if you let Him.  Do you want this year to be a great year? Then recognize His presence in you, receive His promise to you, and respond to His program through you. Our prayer, today, should be “Father, I pray, in the name of Jesus, that You would make me a greater soul winner. And Lord, help me to recognize that, in the truest sense, You are the one who draws those people to Yourself as You inhabit my humanity and display Your deity. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS (Acts 1:1-8) Today, we begin our study of the book of Acts.  The KJV lists the title of this book as “THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.”  Of course, the titles of the books in our Bibles are not inspired, they were inserted by the translators, so there will be differences based on the translation, although this, and the “THE ACTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,” are the two that you will generally see.  But to me, a title that would more accurately describe the book is “The Lord Jesus Christ at Work by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.”  The reason I like that title is this book is, first and foremost, about the work of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, to establish the New Testament church, in order to call out a body of believers, whose mission would be to spread the Gospel message to the uttermost parts of the earth.   The Book of Acts, which is sometimes called the fifth Gospel, is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke.  Luke is the writer, and it was written in about the year 60 A.D.  The Book of Acts is remarkable in many ways, for it is a bridge between the Gospels and the Epistles. The New Testament without the Book of Acts leaves a great hole that needs to be filled.   The Book of Acts furnishes a ladder on which to place the Epistles.  It is something that allows us to climb from the gospels into the Epistles.  For the book of Acts gives the history of the founding of the churches to which the Epistles are directed. The book of Genesis records the origin of the spiritual body, and the book of Acts records the origin of the church.   Click on the play button to hear a message on the special features of this wonderful book.  It speaks of the prominence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is prominent. He is at work from the vantage place of heaven itself.  And it also speaks on the Prominence of the Holy Spirit. Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit. You and I are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. The great fact of this age is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers. This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.