Lessons for Living (Audio)

Living this life can become all-consuming. As you get busier and busier, the days become such a blur that you’re not even sure sometimes what day it is. You want to throw up your hands and say, “I’ve had it – I’m done with all of this!” but you can’t leave it – you’re in too deep. In all of this, it’s so easy to forget – as Pastor Mark will be teaching today – that all of this life is temporary. You’ll be reminded that for as long as this life seems to be, it’s just a blip of time; your eternal life’s so much more important.

You’ve heard the saying, “Seeing is believing”, right? And that seems to work for most of life. There are things you take on faith like that water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. But what about the daily living you do? What about getting the answers to the big questions of life? Where do you get the answers for those? Who can you trust to give you really good answers for those? In his message today, Pastor Mark will be teaching that the place to look for the best answers is God.

There’s so much deception and attempts at deception these days. Is there any public figure – politician or media personality – that you trust without question? Of course not – they haven’t earned that. In many cases it’s just the opposite – they’ve earned your distrust. And then, there’s God. He’s telling you about the most important things – your eternal destination – and how to get to ‘the good place’. Pastor Mark will be teaching today that it all boils down to choosing to trust God, just like the Old Testament saints did.

There’s a saying that everybody wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to die. Well, putting aside the “dying” part, it’s true that everyone wants to get to heaven – whatever their idea of heaven is. There have been developed hundreds if not thousands of ways to ensure your place in God’s kingdom. But with so many different methods, how do you know for sure that you’re on the right path? Pastor Mark’s teaching today will help answer that question and show you the absolutely true path to God.

Everybody wants to feel important and like their lives matter. A lot of people, though, have been made to feel that they have little or no value. Suicides and drug use have climbed massively, due in a lot of ways to many in society thinking they are worthless. And then you have people who think too highly of themselves, becoming a pain to those around them. Pastor Mark will be teaching today the proper way for the Christ-follower to think of themselves. You’ll learn about the real value that God places on all people.

There’s been hostility against the God of the Bible in public in America for a few years. It was mainly the elites of society – the media and Hollywood in particular. But in recent years the public disdain has spread and become more obvious. But what Pastor Mark’s teaching about today is what’s behind this rejection of God’s word is something everyone has: choice. In the teaching today you’ll hear about this awesome aspect of human nature, and how it offers you a chance to decide your eternal fate.

Have you ever seen a child’s first experience with rain? Some think it’s the most amazing thing, while others are terrified by it. Imagine being Noah – just living your life, doing your work, and loving your family and God. Then God tells you He’s sending this thing called “rain”. And to save yourself and your family, you have to build a boat. And as you’ll hear in Pastor Mark’s teaching today, Noah and many other Old Testament figures simply trusted God to do what He said He was going to do and acted on their belief.

Lots of people want to get physically fit. They spend money on special food, fitness club memberships, and many other things – hoping to find their way to health. Most of the time, though, they fail. They don’t keep the promises they made to themselves. You’ll find out today in Pastor Mark’s teaching that God has made promises to mankind. Some you know about, like the prophecies of the Messiah and things like that. But you’ll hear about promises that He made that can only be fulfilled if you do your part.

Ever been publicly shamed for your faith? How about beaten because you love Jesus? Unless you’ve lived in the Middle East, Africa, or Asia, the answer’s probably, “no”. However, the Jewish believers in the book of Hebrews could definitely answer, “yes” to those questions. You’ll hear in Pastor Mark’s teaching today that these Christ-followers were under intense pressure to conform to society. The great thing, though, is that they had access to the One who could give them the answers they needed.

It’s hard to imagine the amount of pressure the believers talked about in the book of Hebrews were under. Their friends were being taken, tortured, and killed. Their family members had rejected them. It’s only natural that they’d think about chucking this whole Jesus thing to go back to a “normal” life. But Pastor Mark will be teaching about what they would be giving up. He’ll be using that word “better” again, talking about why giving up on Jesus is the worst short and long-term mistake you can make.