Lessons for Living (Audio)

If you’re a parent, you worry about your children. You’re concerned that they have an authentic relationship with God and begin to follow Him faithfully. At times, that can lead to lots of anxieties, especially when you think that they might be drifting or outright rejecting the things of God. Pastor Mark will be teaching about this parental role and responsibility, of raising your children with a sense of their need for God. You’ll hear about the story of Moses and his parents’ faithfulness in telling him about God. You’ll be encouraged to think long-term and to be consistent in showing them God’s love.

When you’re facing big decisions, do you ever consider praying about them? And if you do pray before making major decisions, are you open to having your mind changed by God? Pastor Mark will be teaching about another aspect of being a Christ follower, one that Christians in America often neglect. You’ll be reminded that your life doesn’t belong to you anymore – it belongs to God. And you’ll discover the benefits of learning to ask God for His guidance as you navigate life. As you’re caused to remember that God already knows the future, you’ll be encouraged to seek His best direction for your living.

It is pretty much impossible to be happy all of the time. Sure, you might be able to be chipper and smiley-faced a lot of the time, but let’s be honest – there are times where you feel like you’ve been through a meat grinder. That, however, has nothing to do with joy. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the biblical principle of joy and why it has absolutely nothing to do with your emotions. You’ll learn what joy is and, more importantly, what the source of joy is. You’ll come to understand God’s role in joy, as well as the personal responsibility you have for embracing and maintaining your own joy.

There’s a tendency for most people to take for granted situations, as they become more familiar and routine. It’s easy to get comfortable with the rhythm of your life and to begin to kind of just cruise through your daily existence. Pastor Mark will be teaching that it’s possible to become this way in your church attendance as well. You can forget the actual reason you go to church service in the first place and to let other things in life crowd church attendance out. You’ll be reminded what the purpose of going to church is, and the benefit it has for you and those you interact with.

When you look around the world, what do you see? Disunity and chaos. Lots of anger and angry people. And, sometimes, you see that same disunity and anger in the church. There’s recently been news of a major denomination agreeing to split up over a social issue – clearly not unity. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the need for Christ followers to be different than the world. You’ll hear that the church is expected to exhibit unity and respect, and to obey godly authority. You’ll learn that when God’s rules are obeyed that the church organization can be a light in the world’s darkness.

In the American church, due to their prosperity and the influence of corporate business thinking, many have come to believe that the functioning of the church is the sole responsibility of those in leadership. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the proper operation of the church. He’ll be using Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica to illustrate how God wants the local assembly to operate. In particular he’ll be talking about the attitudes the leadership and the congregation should have, and how everybody needs to be working together to make things run right.

You know, back in the seventies there was a lot of talk about “love”. Songs were written like “What the World Needs Now is Love”. Love, love, love. Nowadays there isn’t so much talk about love, is there? It seems there’s a lot of talk about sex but not love. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the importance for the Christ follower to continue speaking and acting out love – God’s love. You’ll hear about the contrast between how the world treats each other and how Christians should treat everybody. He’ll remind you that as the world gets more selfish that the follower of Jesus should become more selfless.

The church in America is as weak as it’s been in quite some time. Sure, there are these churches with tens of thousands of people. But in terms of its influence on society, the church has certainly fallen back. In fact, the outside culture has invaded the culture and beliefs of the church! Pastor Mark will be teaching today about one of the reasons this may have happened – loss of faith by those who proclaim Christ. He’ll be talking about various factors contributing to the spiritual weakness of those in the church and what the Bible says about strengthening these weak areas.

Too many churches these days seem to be more interested in telling happy stories and leaving their members unchallenged, than teaching the plain word of God. Unfortunately for them, they’ll be unprepared for the events that Pastor Mark will be teaching about today. He’ll be sharing from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian church, where Paul is telling his listeners how the rapture and the time of God’s last judgment on earth are going to go down. You’ll learn that the words Paul wrote two thousand years ago are just as relevant – if not more so – than they were when they were first written.

There have been books and movies produced that try to show what will happen when the rapture takes place. Probably like most productions, these have little or no resemblance to what actually will occur. The catastrophes that will result from the sudden disappearance of millions of people around the world who were engaged in their normal daily activities is unimaginable. But Pastor Mark will be teaching about a greater calamity that will happen to each person who is left behind. That disaster will be that they are now subject to God’s final judgment on the earth, to be poured out without restraint.