Lessons for Living (Audio)

Jesus sometimes said things to His followers that were hard for them to hear. In fact, once His sayings caused nearly everyone to leave Him. In the same way, this story of the sower, the seed and the soil has some difficult implications. As Pastor Mark unpacks this passage, you might feel yourself challenged in how you approach your relationship with God. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Following Jesus requires that we give Him permission to tell us whatever He wants to. The great challenge is for us to be obedient to Him and to trust that He knows what’s best for us and that He will give us the strength to carry it through.

Today, Pastor Mark will continue teaching from Luke chapter 8, which contains the story of the sower, the seed and the soil. If you’ve been in church for any length of time there’s a good chance you’ve heard this story. It is important to be reminded of what the story speaks about so that we don’t become complacent and as a result find ourselves in a less than optimal walk with Jesus. Pastor Mark will be focusing on the first two types of soil, the hard and the rocky. He will be showing the correlation between these places where the seed fell and the types of heart we can have, and warn against our finding ourselves here.

Today, Pastor Mark will continue teaching from Luke chapter 8, which contains the story of the sower, the seed and the soil. If you’ve been in church for any length of time there’s a good chance you’ve heard this story. It is important to be reminded of what the story speaks about so that we don’t become complacent and as a result find ourselves in a less than optimal walk with Jesus. Pastor Mark will be focusing on the first two types of soil, the hard and the rocky. He will be showing the correlation between these places where the seed fell and the types of heart we can have, and warn against our finding ourselves here.

There is a lot of complaining about the ineffectiveness of the Church in America these days. About how the Church can’t stand against the tide of agnosticism and atheism, and the immorality that seems to have become the norm in society. Pastor Mark will be teaching on being a true follower of Christ, and what that looks like. He’ll be sharing what distinguishes an actual disciple of Jesus from someone who is just talking the talk. We will be challenged to examine how we are living our lives and to get rid of what is holding us back from serving God with our whole heart. Our prayer is that you would heed what the Spirit says to you.

There is a lot of complaining about the ineffectiveness of the Church in America these days. About how the Church can’t stand against the tide of agnosticism and atheism, and the immorality that seems to have become the norm in society. Pastor Mark will be teaching on being a true follower of Christ, and what that looks like. He’ll be sharing what distinguishes an actual disciple of Jesus from someone who is just talking the talk. We will be challenged to examine how we are living our lives and to get rid of what is holding us back from serving God with our whole heart. Our prayer is that you would heed what the Spirit says to you.

Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God, man has been trying to get back into a right relationship with God. Too often, we have ignored God’s clear plan of restoration in favor of trying to do it our way. Pastor Mark will be finishing up the story of the Pharisee and the unrighteous woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. He’ll be teaching about how we need to have a sense of our neediness when we are approaching God. It’s so good to know that God is waiting and always available to us. We need to understand that God is accessible only on His terms, not ours, but that He waits for us to come to Him openly.

Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God, man has been trying to get back into a right relationship with God. Too often, we have ignored God’s clear plan of restoration in favor of trying to do it our way. Pastor Mark will be finishing up the story of the Pharisee and the unrighteous woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. He’ll be teaching about how we need to have a sense of our neediness when we are approaching God. It’s so good to know that God is waiting and always available to us. We need to understand that God is accessible only on His terms, not ours, but that He waits for us to come to Him openly.

The story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume is a story in contrasts. Pastor Mark will be teaching from the story in Luke about how the Pharisee, Simon, had a completely different view of his standing with God than the woman did about hers. We will hear Jesus expose Simon’s ungratefulness contrasted with the woman’s gratitude toward Jesus. Pastor Mark will show us how too often we don’t appreciate what God has given us or how we take His gifts for granted. We need to learn to look at our lives objectively, realizing that we have nothing to offer God, and that we desperately need His mercy and grace.

The story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume is a story in contrasts. Pastor Mark will be teaching from the story in Luke about how the Pharisee, Simon, had a completely different view of his standing with God than the woman did about hers. We will hear Jesus expose Simon’s ungratefulness contrasted with the woman’s gratitude toward Jesus. Pastor Mark will show us how too often we don’t appreciate what God has given us or how we take His gifts for granted. We need to learn to look at our lives objectively, realizing that we have nothing to offer God, and that we desperately need His mercy and grace.

Because we can’t see God, it’s easy to think we can get away with thinking or doing sinful things; you know, God’s so “far away”, He’ll never know. In the story Pastor Mark will be teaching from, the Pharisee Simon seems to have thought the same thing as he mentally criticized the woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet. Jesus, however, soon made it clear that He knew everything Simon thought. He also tried to teach Simon a lesson by the parable He shared. Pastor Mark will be using this story to remind us that God is aware of our thoughts but more importantly, that we have been given an amazing gift from God, and we have an obligation to give likewise.