Lessons for Living (Audio)

It seems that when we hear Bible passages that tell us we have to take a public stand for Jesus, we think of some mythical wild-eyed street corner preacher, telling everyone they’re going to Hell. Pastor Mark will be teaching about this statement that Jesus made, and how to correctly apply it to our lives. We’ll be hearing about attitudes that can keep us out of the Kingdom of God. We will also hear reminders about the reality of the spiritual world, the world hidden from our earthly eyes. Jesus will be telling His disciples about Who He really is and why He really came to this earth, and exactly what He’s going to experience to achieve their redemption.

One of the most difficult things about being a Christian is doing what Jesus told His disciples about anyone who wanted to follow Him: deny yourself. We all want to do what we want to do, when we want to do it. This is why so many people refuse to become Christ followers. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the difficulties we have giving up our will to God’s will. We will learn more about what the true cost of becoming an intern of Jesus really is, and what it will take for us to give up and obey God. We will also learn about the blessings that God will bestow on us as we live sacrificially for Him.

One of the most difficult things about being a Christian is doing what Jesus told His disciples about anyone who wanted to follow Him: deny yourself. We all want to do what we want to do, when we want to do it. This is why so many people refuse to become Christ followers. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the difficulties we have giving up our will to God’s will. We will learn more about what the true cost of becoming an intern of Jesus really is, and what it will take for us to give up and obey God. We will also learn about the blessings that God will bestow on us as we live sacrificially for Him.

Any serious examination of what Jesus did during His earthly ministry will reveal that He spent the majority of His public time teaching people. Pastor Mark will be sharing the need for us as disciples of Christ to be constantly learning how to be a Christian. He will be reminding us that as Christ followers we have an obligation to be good stewards with all that God has gifted us with. This includes the material blessings as well as the physical and personal giftings we’ve received. Pastor Mark will exhort us to remember that one day we will have to give an accounting of what we did with all these gifts we were given.

Any serious examination of what Jesus did during His earthly ministry will reveal that He spent the majority of His public time teaching people. Pastor Mark will be sharing the need for us as disciples of Christ to be constantly learning how to be a Christian. He will be reminding us that as Christ followers we have an obligation to be good stewards with all that God has gifted us with. This includes the material blessings as well as the physical and personal giftings we’ve received. Pastor Mark will exhort us to remember that one day we will have to give an accounting of what we did with all these gifts we were given.

Being a disciple of anything – martial arts, welding, Jesus – requires spending a lot of time honing skills and learning about your “craft”. If you have made the decision to pursue one of the above or something like them you know that you will be learning for your whole life. Pastor Mark will be sharing his experiences as an intern (or “disciple”) in the pharmaceutical world and showing how it relates to being a Christ follower. He’ll be teaching from the book of Luke, showing the struggles the disciples had during their internship. As always, they are good examples of what we are to do in following Christ with guidance on what not to do as well.

Being a disciple of anything – martial arts, welding, Jesus – requires spending a lot of time honing skills and learning about your “craft”. If you have made the decision to pursue one of the above or something like them you know that you will be learning for your whole life. Pastor Mark will be sharing his experiences as an intern (or “disciple”) in the pharmaceutical world and showing how it relates to being a Christ follower. He’ll be teaching from the book of Luke, showing the struggles the disciples had during their internship. As always, they are good examples of what we are to do in following Christ with guidance on what not to do as well.

Jesus had a busy day, as we can see. Healing a demoniac, having a woman touch Him and having power leave Him, and raising a girl from the dead! What they had in common is that each of them exercised faith that Jesus could make their situations better. Pastor Mark will be teaching us that all we need to have is faith in Jesus to have Him work in our lives. It all sounds so simple to do, but we know that it is both simple and complicated to exercise faith for what looks like hopeless conditions. Pastor Mark will be encouraging us to take from this that Jesus is more than willing and able to hear all of our requests and act on them.

Jesus had a busy day, as we can see. Healing a demoniac, having a woman touch Him and having power leave Him, and raising a girl from the dead! What they had in common is that each of them exercised faith that Jesus could make their situations better. Pastor Mark will be teaching us that all we need to have is faith in Jesus to have Him work in our lives. It all sounds so simple to do, but we know that it is both simple and complicated to exercise faith for what looks like hopeless conditions. Pastor Mark will be encouraging us to take from this that Jesus is more than willing and able to hear all of our requests and act on them.

How often do we tell others about Jesus? If you’re like most people, the answer is, “not very often”. The story that Pastor Mark will be teaching from today is the story of Jairus, a Jewish official, who had a sick girl that needed healing from Jesus. He healed the girl – raising her from the dead, in fact. Pastor Mark will be emphasizing the faith of Jairus, but will also be pointing out the fact that someone communicated to Jairus about what this Jesus guy could do for him. Pastor Mark will be challenging us to look at people the way Jesus does – as needy people needing His touch – and to tell them about Him.