Lessons for Living (Audio)

It’s so easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life and to forget to spend time working at being a Godly spouse and parent. Also, because of society’s stance against God, it is easy to forget the constant war in the heavenly places that affects us, too. Pastor Mark will be teaching on our need to stay plugged in with God and with our families. Knowing that the future of our kids’ lives depends on our modeling Christ in front of them all the time, even when we fall short. We need to model Christ’s forgiveness and restoration; they need to see all of the areas God is working on us in.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life and to forget to spend time working at being a Godly spouse and parent. Also, because of society’s stance against God, it is easy to forget the constant war in the heavenly places that affects us, too. Pastor Mark will be teaching on our need to stay plugged in with God and with our families. Knowing that the future of our kids’ lives depends on our modeling Christ in front of them all the time, even when we fall short. We need to model Christ’s forgiveness and restoration; they need to see all of the areas God is working on us in.

Marriage is hard. Ask a couple who you think has an awesome marriage about that, and they will tell you how difficult making marriage work is. Trying to do life on one’s own is hard enough, let alone throwing another human into the mix. But just as the Bible has instructions on how we can live successful lives, it has answers for living life as a married couple as well. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the necessity for followers of Christ to live not only our individual lives after God’s dictates, but in our relationships with the opposite sex we need to do the same thing as well.

Marriage is hard. Ask a couple who you think has an awesome marriage about that, and they will tell you how difficult making marriage work is. Trying to do life on one’s own is hard enough, let alone throwing another human into the mix. But just as the Bible has instructions on how we can live successful lives, it has answers for living life as a married couple as well. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the necessity for followers of Christ to live not only our individual lives after God’s dictates, but in our relationships with the opposite sex we need to do the same thing as well.

The apostles had been imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. God got them out so they could continue to preach. They were arrested again and then beaten. Their response? Go back out and preach. Every. Day. Because that’s what Jesus told them to do. Pastor Mark will be teaching that we have the same responsibility – to be obedient to Jesus’ command, wherever that leads us. This requires us to say, “Because God Says So, I will take steps of faith and impact my world.” That’s a totally scary thing to say, let alone do. Being obedient, though, will lead to a joy we can’t fathom.

The apostles had been imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. God got them out so they could continue to preach. They were arrested again and then beaten. Their response? Go back out and preach. Every. Day. Because that’s what Jesus told them to do. Pastor Mark will be teaching that we have the same responsibility – to be obedient to Jesus’ command, wherever that leads us. This requires us to say, “Because God Says So, I will take steps of faith and impact my world.” That’s a totally scary thing to say, let alone do. Being obedient, though, will lead to a joy we can’t fathom.

No matter who we are, we have standards for what we consider ethical or moral behavior. Even criminals have hierarchies for behavior; robbers and thieves look down on child molesters, for instance. So it’s easy for us to think we’re okay in God’s eyes because we’re okay in our own eyes. “At least I’ve never robbed a bank”, we tell ourselves, as though that impresses God. As Pastor Mark is teaching, God’s moral standard is perfection in thought as well as in deed. We quickly see that we are nowhere close to what God requires; that’s why Jesus came to show us the way.

No matter who we are, we have standards for what we consider ethical or moral behavior. Even criminals have hierarchies for behavior; robbers and thieves look down on child molesters, for instance. So it’s easy for us to think we’re okay in God’s eyes because we’re okay in our own eyes. “At least I’ve never robbed a bank”, we tell ourselves, as though that impresses God. As Pastor Mark is teaching, God’s moral standard is perfection in thought as well as in deed. We quickly see that we are nowhere close to what God requires; that’s why Jesus came to show us the way.

Yeah, this whole “faith” thing seems to be difficult to get a grasp on, but maybe we’re overthinking it. Jesus said that a child could understand the kingdom of God, so why is this so hard for us? Maybe it’s fear – fear of letting go of control of our lives, or fear of what we think God’s gonna have us do. Pastor Mark will be teaching about what faith is, according to the Bible, and the obstacles that we sometimes put up to keep from being accountable to God. He will also be encouraging us to exercise faith towards God in the same way we do in many small ways every day.

Yeah, this whole “faith” thing seems to be difficult to get a grasp on, but maybe we’re overthinking it. Jesus said that a child could understand the kingdom of God, so why is this so hard for us? Maybe it’s fear – fear of letting go of control of our lives, or fear of what we think God’s gonna have us do. Pastor Mark will be teaching about what faith is, according to the Bible, and the obstacles that we sometimes put up to keep from being accountable to God. He will also be encouraging us to exercise faith towards God in the same way we do in many small ways every day.