Lessons for Living (Audio)

From the atheist to the most devout Christian, everyone exercises faith, every day. When you sit on a chair, when you drive forward when the light changes to green, when you get on an airplane. The usage of faith is dependent on how much you trust the reliability of the object of your faith. Pastor Mark will be teaching today why you can trust God and put your faith in Him. You’ll hear what the Bible has to say about what faith is, and you’ll learn some of the history of those who’ve lived before you. You’ll find out about their struggles in hanging on to God and believing that living for Him was worth their struggle.

It’s amazing to see God arrange and move things around to make it all work for His glory. People, places, things, situations, decisions – all like a cosmic multi-dimensional chess board. If you think of how your life’s gone as a Christ follower, you probably have experienced this kind of feeling. Pastor Mark will be teaching about God’s sovereignty and the will of mankind. You’ll hear about how God deeply loves you, wants the best for you, but won’t manipulate you into doing what’s best for you – you have to make that decision. And you’ll find out how God can take the worst situation and make it better.

One of the hardest things about exercising faith is that in many ways the whole thing’s out of your control. The results aren’t up to you – you’re not the one making things happen. It’s very much like a child putting their trust in their parent that the parent will come through on what they promised. Pastor Mark will be teaching today that the Jewish Christians the book of Hebrews was written to were in much the same situation. They were under intense pressure to return to Judaism from the “cult” of following Jesus. This book was written to remind them why Jesus fulfilled the promises that the Law could not.

The Christian life seems to be filled with paradoxes. You’re asked – and sometimes commanded – to do things that make no sense from this world’s point of view. You’re promised things you can’t sense with your physical senses, based on believing someone you can’t see with your physical eyes. Pastor Mark will be teaching today about faith. You’ll hear him talk about what scripture defines as faith, and why it’s hard for you to get a handle on that. You’ll learn about the importance of having someone big enough to trust, to believe on and in, and why God is the only one who can fit that role.

From the time people are born they’re taught to fear death. You’re told not to do this or that thing, because you might die. Don’t take that steel-walking job; it’s really dangerous. Don’t become a missionary – it’s a lot less safe than staying in America. Pastor Mark will be teaching today about how that attitude is unbiblical and keeps Christ followers from achieving the things God wants from them. You’ll find out how to overcome those ingrained attitudes and really live for Jesus.

Do you ever think about death? Almost everyone does. You’re told by society to not think about death or dying; instead, work on living it up for today. Death’s the great unknown, and most people fear it. Pastor Mark will be teaching today about that fear and how the Christ follower should think and feel about death. You’ll find out that the fear of death keeps you from giving your all in living for God, which robs you of His blessings. You end up not being as dangerous to Satan’s kingdom as you could be.

Becoming a Christ follower makes sense to you now, doesn’t it? So, why doesn’t everyone give their lives to Jesus the first time they hear the Gospel? Did you turn your life over to Christ the first time someone shared with you? Probably not. In Pastor Mark’s teaching today, you’ll hear about people’s resistance to the Gospel. More importantly, though, you’ll hear about how you as an ambassador for Jesus should react to people’s negative response to hearing the Gospel, and what you shouldn’t do.

Most people’s lives consist of routines. You get up at about the same time, leave for work the same time, and on and on through the day until you go to bed. It was the same for the disciples – until they met a man named Jesus. After that, their lives were completely different. Pastor Mark will be teaching about Jesus’ desire to do the same to and for you. You’ll find out more about your purpose as a Christ follower, and what you need to do to start ‘living dangerously’ and do work to benefit the kingdom of God.

Jesus was a rebel. He rebelled against many of His society’s norms. He broke Jewish rules against touching forbidden items. He spoke to whomever He wanted to, whenever He wanted to. He hung out with the “bad” people of His community. Pastor Mark will be teaching today about why Jesus made himself an outcast in many ways. You’ll find out about Jesus’ motivation for His actions and how you’re expected to follow His example. You’ll learn about how to get the guts to please God more than men.

Do you find it hard to talk to people about controversial topics? Most people do. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Don’t talk about politics or religion”? That’s because people tend to have strong views on those subjects. Pastor Mark, in his teaching today, will talk about Jesus’ approach to sharing the Good News. You’ll learn what Jesus did when He talked about the kingdom of God and worked miracles, and how He handled the people’s response, whether it was positive or negative toward Him.