None of us enjoy correction or rebuke. Most of us will try our best to avoid being on either side of it. There’s a good reason God gave us that hesitation. It’s vital that you take the time to really think about and, more importantly, pray about an issue before you confront someone. It should only be done out of love. As you mature in your faith in Christ and He transforms you from the inside out, you’ll get better at dealing with correction. You’ll still feel those defenses come up, but if you look at the other person with grace and love, giving them the benefit of the doubt, it can be a beautiful opportunity for growth.

Rebellion and resistance to correction are characteristics of an immature believer. When an authority figure or a peer comes to you with correction or accountability, your first reaction may be to get defensive. The excuses start flowing. Or sometimes you try to turn it around on them and start pointing out their flaws. How should a mature believer handle those moments of confrontation? As Pastor Mark will point out to us in this teaching, while there are those who like to lord over others because they enjoy that feeling of power, a good, loving leader–like Paul–will confront sin or false beliefs because they love you.

The days in which we are living are challenging. We have two options. We can either use the turbulence of our circumstances to grow our faith or we can use it to grow our fear. We may not have much power in this world, but we do have the power to choose between these two things. In this teaching, Pastor Mark will encourage us to choose faith in the midst of trials. Instead of staring at a television screen or scrolling angrily through social media, let’s use these times to direct people to the only one that can calm the storm. People are longing for peace, and there’s only one place they can find it: Jesus Christ.

Dying for our faith is generally not something we have to worry about in this country. As much as popular culture may have moved away from the values and virtues that characterize the life of a Christ-follower, things simply haven’t reached that point yet. It is hard for us to put ourselves in the shoes of our spiritual predecessors who faced the very real threat of death simply for believing in Jesus. Countless martyrs have given their lives to in gruesome ways, not with fear and trepidation, but with a supernatural joy and peace that clearly demonstrated the Spirit’s presence in their hearts. We, too, can have that joy and peace.

The world is full of sights and sounds and the next big thing. All these things have the power to pull you away from what really matters, and what really matters is Jesus. Jesus asked Peter if he loved him more than all the sights and sounds and things. This challenged Peter, and it should challenge you too.

Before Jesus’ death, Peter claimed he would never deny the Lord. For those who know the story, you know he did deny Jesus—three times—and his decision crushed him. Jesus knew he would do this, and yet He still loved him. When Jesus returned, Peter was restored and made new. Maybe you’re wrestling with a mistake that you’ve made in the past. Jesus wants to restore you! In this teaching, Pastor Mark will encourage you to run to Jesus for that restoration.

When boredom strikes, our hearts are quick to look for excitement. Sometimes, this searching can lead us to places and things that are not good for our souls. When you’re tempted to find pleasure in all the wrong places, be still before the Lord and ask Him to help you. As you’ll hear in this teaching, it is only in Jesus that you find true satisfaction.

Peter didn’t always make the right choices, and sometimes he took his eyes off of what mattered. When it seemed that Jesus was nowhere to be found, Peter fell back into his old habits. It wasn’t until he saw Jesus on the shore that he realized he wasn’t where he should be. He was called to be a fisher of men not of fish. The Lord designates some areas as off-limits to us because He knows they are no longer beneficial. Pastor Mark will remind us that we need to trust that God is always working things for our good.

It’s easy to want to go back to your old life when the new life God calls you to gets hard. The temptations can be challenging to resist, but when God calls you out, He calls you to something lasting, to something better. As you walk with the Lord, don’t allow doors from the past to remain open. Ask God to help you close what should be closed, and open what He has for you. Pastor Mark will remind you in this teaching that God’s doors are always better than your own. He knows where they lead, and you can always trust in His good and perfect plan for your life.

Waiting is one of the hardest things to do. You can probably point to an event in your life in which waiting constituted the biggest part of a given problem. It’s not a new thing—you can see it in the lives of the disciples too. As Jesus walked with them, Jesus taught the disciples about patience, teaching them that although waiting is hard, patience really is a virtue! As you wait on the Lord, don’t allow distractions of life to move you away from the calling He has on your life.