Lessons for Living (Audio)

When you watch the weather reporters tell you what kind of weather you’re in store for tomorrow or for the next week, you understand that things won’t be exactly like they say. What they’re doing is making an educated guess, based on their observations of the world around them. In Pastor Mark’s teaching today, he’ll be showing a contrast between the weather reporting and the prophecies in the Bible. You’ll be learning that the basis for biblical prophecy is way more reliable than man’s guestimations – they’re based on the knowledge of the all-knowing God.

For the last forty or fifty years some people have spent their time speculating if the antichrist is alive and if so, who it is. A former king of Spain was at one time thought to be a ‘candidate’ for the role, and there have been others through the years. In Pastor Mark’s teaching today, he’ll be reminding you to keep your focus on what’s important. The things you need to be concerning yourself with are having an increasingly lively relationship with God and being a blessing to others. As Pastor Mark teaches, your main job while you’re on the earth is to make God look good to the unsaved world.

It’s hard to think about giving your life for Christ. There’s always a question of whether you could go through with it, given a choice between renouncing Jesus and certain, possibly painful death. It really tugs on your emotions and if you’ve ever read stories of martyrs’ deaths through the years, you know people died brutal deaths standing up for Jesus. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the worst time ever for Christ followers, the time to come called the Great Tribulation. You’ll learn that it’s best to stand for God now while it’s easy, before it becomes much more costly to do so.

All around the world, in churches large and small, people are rejecting the truth in God’s word, the Bible, and choosing to follow someone else’s view about life. Entire churches and denominations are claiming that the narrow way to God is “too narrow”, and opting for a wider, more ‘inclusive’ path. Pastor Mark will be teaching about this “falling away” and how the Bible predicted that it would happen. You’ll hear about the warning signs that indicate that what scriptures call the “end times” are approaching. You’ll be warned to open your own eyes and to get your house in order while you still can.

Preaching or teaching about hell isn’t very popular these days. Some churches believe preaching about hell is “distasteful” or an “antiquated” way of thinking. They believe that a loving God wouldn’t send people to hell. Pastor Mark will be teaching about hell today, as well as heaven. You’ll find out whether or not God sends people to hell. You’ll also learn how to hang tough when tough times come your way. You’ll hear about the Thessalonian church and what they were going through, and how they reacted to their difficulties. You’ll also discover how what they experienced applies to your life.

Over the years, people have asked the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Funny, though, the question of why good things happen to bad people doesn’t get asked very often. And sometimes Christ followers ask themselves the first question in some way when they go through trials they don’t think they “deserve”. Pastor Mark will be teaching about how the apostle Paul tackled this question. You’ll hear what the Bible has to say about such matters and where you fit into God’s scheme. You’ll also find out what God’s main reason for using hard times in your life is.

In a lot of places in the Bible, spiritual health is likened to physical health. It’s easy to understand that if you don’t physically nourish your body that it becomes weak and in extreme cases, dies. It’s a lot harder to understand that your spiritual health is just the same. Pastor Mark will be trying to help you see the need to be fed spiritually, regularly. In his teaching today, you’ll hear what the scripture has to say about your need for your spirit to be well-fed. You’ll also find out that you have a role in helping people have positive experiences at church meetings – it’s not just the pastor’s job.

Life can be a real grind. Successes and failures, and failures after having successes, can really wear on a person. As a Christ follower you know that you aren’t doing life like you should and you get frustrated with yourself. Sometimes you might even think that God’s gonna give up on you, just like you want to give up on yourself. But Pastor Mark will be teaching that this thinking is not how God thinks. You’ll discover that God’s attitude toward your struggles is a little different than your own might be. You’ll hear some encouragement to carry on through the efforts you might be having.

People live such lives of contradictions – they complain about someone’s behavior, then do the exact same thing. This is a frustrating way to live, isn’t it? If you’re a follower of Christ you have the same problem, don’t you? Especially when it comes to people doing you wrong. The temptation to get back at them can be very strong. Pastor Mark will be teaching about that issue. He’ll be showing you what the Bible has to say about what to do when people sin against you. You’ll learn that there is a way to overcome those temptations, and you’ll be told how to do that.

Are you satisfied with your prayer life? Do you even have a prayer life? How often during your day do you talk with God, asking Him for His help in making decisions or to do your work better? Pastor Mark will be teaching that if you aren’t taking time to cultivate your relationship with God that you’ll find yourself weakened spiritually. You’ll find it harder to resist temptations and you won’t have the right attitude towards events and people that you have difficulty with. He’ll be showing you what scripture has to say about this issue and how to fix any problems you might have in this area.