Lessons for Living (Audio)

How much time do you spend reading and studying the Bible? Do you ever crack the Bible open when you’re not at church? Studies have shown that eighty percent of those who claim to be Christians open their Bibles less than five times a year at home. If you think about it, that might explain why there seems to be little difference in behavior between those in the church and those outside of it. Pastor Mark is teaching about your need to win the battle that goes on in your heart and mind and, more importantly, how to do it. God wants you to have His mindset; the key to having that is found in the scriptures.

Did you know that every day, wherever you go, that you are participating in a war? Were you aware that you are the battlefield in that war that’s been going on since the creation of mankind? It’s true. God has been trying to wrest you from Satan’s control since man first rebelled and joined Satan’s side. Pastor Mark is teaching how God wants you to pick His side and then how to become an active participant in the war. You’ve been unknowingly on the side of the devil and now you need to learn what the battle looks like so you can begin to fight for God and for yourself.

You know, most people go through their lives not giving a thought to the connection between thinking and action – how about you? It’s surprising that even Christ followers don’t make this correlation. The Bible, though, is full of verses that speak of this cause and effect that’s critical to successful living. Pastor Mark is teaching about your need to understand that God made your thinking and your body to work in harmony. When they don’t – when there is dysfunction between the two – your life doesn’t function as it should. Understanding that there is a connection is the first step in fixing what’s wrong in your life.

A lot of times when reading the scriptures and particularly the epistles it’s easy to get frustrated. After all, these guys are asking us to trust God for everything? How do you do that? The apostle Paul is telling you to rejoice always. “How can I do that,” you might ask. It might seem impossible at times. Pastor Mark in his teaching will remind you that when the apostle Paul wrote that instruction that he was chained to two Roman guards around the clock. The thing that should be encouraging to you when you read these letters is that those men lived out what they wrote, which means it’s possible for you to do so, too.

Having personal peace, real internal peace, is something everyone in the world seeks. You can - and probably have – looked for it in many different ways, but with no lasting benefit and with possibly negative effects on your life. Pastor Mark, in his teaching, is letting you know that the only place to find true, everlasting peace is through a relationship with God with Jesus as boss of your life. Not religious observances, doing things you hope will please God and tip the scales in your favor, but an active relationship where you’re letting God guide your path every day.

Telling you not to worry is like telling you not to think about dancing pink elephants – that’s all you can think about, isn’t it? Nevertheless, God tells you in scripture many times not to worry. Somehow, you’re supposed to put all of your concerns into His hands and trust Him to take care of them. Pastor Mark is teaching about how to do just that. Learning to let God worry about stuff for you is just another step along the path of increasing faith. In the same way you learn to trust God for your salvation day by day, you learn to hand over your worries to Him – step by step, sometimes having to start over, but always moving forward.

Isn’t it true? Worrying kills any good feelings or fun feelings you were having before you started worrying? It’s such a downer, worry. It’s so far away from what God has intended for your life. He wants you to be able to relax, taking things as they come and letting Him show you how He wants you to deal with them. Pastor Mark will be instructing you how to begin to turn over the worries – large and small – to God. You’ll be reminded of how much God loves you and what awesome plans He has for you, and how to incorporate His thinking and actions into your life.

It’s not pleasant to think about all of the things in your life that you really don’t have control over, is it? Whether your employer keeps the business open in your area, if your car decides to break down, etc. It could become maddening if you spend too much time dwelling on it. But, as Pastor Mark is teaching, God wants to relieve you of all of those potential anxieties. He wants to absorb them, to take them upon Himself. Once you learn to let God be in charge, your life will begin to become less stressful. You’ll be freer to learn God’s purpose for your life and to begin to walk that new life out.

The scriptures tell you that God will provide all that you need. Do you trust Him to do that, or do you sometimes worry about things? The Israelites had to trust God when they were traveling through the desert, and God came through every day for forty years. Pastor Mark is teaching that it’s possible for you to trust God in the same way. It can be challenging in this land of great prosperity to realize that even for you, all that you have comes from God. Having a closer relationship with God will cause you to realize your dependence on Him, which will help you to let Him do your worrying for you.

Is your interaction with God a formal, distant one? Do you only think about God when you’re in a church service or activity? Hopefully not. God intended for you to interact with Him the same way He and Adam related to each other – not only as God and creation, but as friends. In Pastor Mark’s teaching he will be reminding you that God wants to have an intimate relationship with you. You don’t have to be distant from God because you don’t think you’re good enough; God already knows everything about you and He’s constantly reaching out to you to get to know Him better.