Lessons for Living (Audio)

It seems that we in America have a skewed view of evangelism. People tend to think of Billy Graham or Greg Laurie speaking to thousands of people at one time or the day of Pentecost where Peter led three thousand to Christ. Pastor Mark will be reminding you that the apostle Paul was leading the soldiers that guarded him to Christ, maybe one at a time. Most salvation experiences are a result of a one-on-one encounter, one friend leading another friend to Christ. All it takes is your willingness to be used by God, and loving your neighbors enough to help keep their souls from perishing in hell.

One of the tough things about being a Christian is living out the fact of belonging to God rather than to yourself. That also means that everything – your job, who you marry, where you live – is subject to God’s input and influence. Trusting God in this way can be really hard but as Pastor Mark will be teaching, the apostle Paul had accomplished it. You’ll be learning how the apostle was able to get to the place of trusting God for everything as well as learning to be content with what God brought his way. Since God never asks you to do the impossible, you’ll learn to fulfill this command of God.

As a parent, it’s easy to begin to map out your children’s lives, trying to point them in a certain direction – career, scholastic endeavors, whatever. Sometimes the grandparents want to offer their advice regarding these things, too, which can sometimes cause friction. Pastor Mark will be sharing that the important focus of the parent or grandparent should be that the children grow up with an understanding that God loves them, created them and has a purpose for their lives. That will help the child remain secure and stable through life.

Some of the burning questions everyone has are: “What is my identity – who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, and “What am I supposed to do with my life?” If you don’t know Jesus, you’re left to your own best idea, which has gotten you to where you are now. As a Christ follower, you have the ability to be plugged into the One who can answer all of those questions. Pastor Mark will be teaching about God’s ability to teach you contentment. Part of finding contentment is having those questions of existence and meaning definitively answered. The only place to find lasting answers is through a relationship with Jesus.

Learning life lessons usually aren’t fun, are they? Take patience, for instance. The experiences you have to go through to develop the kind of patience God is looking for in your life requires that you go through some tough situations. Learning contentment is much the same. You have to go through a lot of disappointment and realigning of thinking and desires. Pastor Mark will be using the life of the apostle Paul to illustrate what things in your character have to die so that you can become more like Jesus regarding the character trait of contentment.

Time and again the Bible warns about the deceptive nature of material wealth. You’re told how it can cause an increase of worry, as you try to figure how to hang on to it. There are stories of men like Job and Abraham who, although wealthy, stayed close to God and God blessed them. There are others who allowed riches to turn their hearts from God, and you can see this type all around you today as well as in the scriptures. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the importance of attaining what men like Job and Abraham had, contentment, which was a result of their relationship with God.

It is amazing to think about the winning dollar amounts in the lotteries these days – hundreds of millions, even a billion dollars! Many, many people enter, hoping for just a small piece of that lottery pie. Sadly, you can also read how those winners crashed and burned in their lives as a result of getting rich quick. The Bible says, though, that money will not give ultimate satisfaction – only a vibrant relationship with God can do that. Pastor Mark is teaching that, just like every other problem you might have, the solution is found in Jesus. He alone can give you the satisfaction that you are looking for.

It’s hard not to want more – it seems to be ingrained into our nature. And once we get what we think we “have” to have, our eyes begin looking around for the next thing to acquire. It’s like being a rat on one of those circular wheels, running but getting nowhere. The apostle Paul tells of finding contentment no matter his circumstances, whether in abundance or in need. Pastor Mark is teaching that Paul’s accomplishment in this matter is something that any Christ follower can achieve. What it requires is that you understand that your sufficiency is to be found in Jesus, not the world around us.

Doesn’t life sometimes seem to be moving so fast that you can’t keep up or make sense of things? Sure, it does. Things happen in your life and you wonder why. Maybe you even doubt that God is watching over you or possibly that God’s getting you back for something you did. Well, Pastor Mark’s teaching will help put those doubts to rest. God does have a plan for your life. Nothing that has happened or will happen takes Him by surprise. He has a positive purpose for your existence and He wants to show you how, by trusting and following Him, you can live a life of contentment and joy.

Sometimes it seems as though you’ll never be satisfied in life, doesn’t it? There’s something deep inside that gnaws at you, wanting to just…be at rest. Right? Even as a follower of Christ, having the Holy Spirit inside you, there are times when even God almost doesn’t feel like enough. As Pastor Mark will be teaching, that feeling is the desire for contentment. It’s not a fruit of the Spirit, unfortunately. It has to be learned and earned by working it out in day to day life. The apostle Paul is talking about it and if you listen to and put to use in your life what he has to say about it you’ll be on the road to finding contentment.