John Mulligan gave us part 5 of “A Beautiful Life” on Sunday morning. His lesson included three main points on the beauty of “future.”

1) You Know Where Life is Headed. God’s Word is our GPS, guiding us in the right direction. Our faith tells us our future is with God for eternity. I Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

2) You Are Ready for the Journey. We trust in God’s work, in His plan. We are protected by God’s power, even in our weakest moments. We can be joyful because of all that has been done for us.

3) You Live the Present for the Future. We are chosen! As 1 Peter 2:9 tells us, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” As His chosen people, we must strive to continuously wage war against sin, to live honorably, and to be a blessing to others.

We can choose to live in dread or in blessed assurance, knowing God’s GPS for us is flawless.

John Mulligan’s lesson on Sunday was part 4 of “A Beautiful Life” - the beauty of choice. God gave us free will and with that comes the reality of hard choices. Fortunately, we can make those choices with God’s direction. John gave us two guidelines to follow.

(1) Your Life is Defined by Decisions. You know the deeper meaning of these choices. The best choices aren’t always the sweetest ones. We don’t always want to make the right choice, but we can see ahead to the consequences of a bad choice. In II Corinthians 5:10, we read “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

(2) Make All Decisions Work for Good. We must trust in God’s providence. He is working for good for those who love Him. He is in the scenes and behind the scenes, always with us, even as we struggle with our decisions.

Philippians 1:20-21 tells us, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

God will help us with our decisions. If we continue to walk in His light, He will guide us towards the right choices.

On Sunday, John Mulligan gave us part 3 of “A Beautiful Life”, when he talked about the beauty of service. People search for fulfillment, but often settle for entertainment. These kinds of pleasures are short-lived and keep us sidetracked from service that matters. John gave us three points to think about.

(1) To serve is to do what you were created to do. As it says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, God prepared us in advance for us to do.” We were not created to collect things or just make money. We’re here to use the gifts that God gave us.

(2) Service helps you in your struggle against sin. Don’t let boredom define you by sliding into sinful behavior. When we are working towards a good goal, we get a satisfying sense of accomplishment - a sense we never achieve from giving in to temptations.

(3) You can serve in so many ways. We can serve with our time - simply listening to someone is a blessing to them. We can use our resources, whether it’s money or things. We can use our abilities; can you fix things, or cook, or teach a skill? We can serve with leadership by encouraging others to send thoughtful notes or emails, or by coordinating a group effort to accomplish something useful.

Remember, working behind the scenes is critical to so many efforts. We don’t need to be in the spotlight. Humble service is a beautiful thing. Don’t keep your light under a barrel. Let’s all recognize our God-given abilities and match them to the needs of our community and our world.

John Mulligan’s lesson on Sunday was part 2 of “A Beautiful Life” - The Beauty of Identity. What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you only see the flaws? That’s only the surface level of who we are. God looks at our heart.

In Christ, you always know who you are. 1 Peter 1:3 reads, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” We are children of God, reborn, with our pasts erased -- He has essentially given us a “do-over”. With that great gift, we are assured that in His eyes, our past mistakes no longer define us.

In Christ, you always know how to live. We know we are here to live our lives in service to God. We have this gift of our rebirth; our duty is to join our conscience to our actions. This will make us become what God intended us to be. We can be a path to Jesus for others.

Matt. 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

As our light shines more, as we become who God intended us to be, and as we unselfishly serve others, we will be keeping Satan away. The devil can’t get into those places where we’re living God’s Word. Our beautiful life living for Jesus Christ won’t be visible in the mirror. It will be seen in our merciful, loving actions done in God’s name.

Sunday’s lesson by John Mulligan was “A Beautiful Life, part 1: The Beauty of ‘Meaning’.” He started by playing the lovely hymn “A Beautiful Life”. The first lines are: “Each day I’ll do a golden deed by helping those who are in need. My life on earth is but a span and so I’ll do the best I can.”

Many people search for meaning in their lives. As John told us, You Have the Explanation for Your Greatest Search. As believers we, too, ask “why are we here?”. In fact, we are programmed by God to ask these questions, to WANT to know ‘why.’ As human beings, we can see the uniqueness of our world, its perfection for human life, its purposeful design for us.

Where did I come from? We came from God; He created us, on purpose.

Who am I? We are vessels for God’s spirit. Our body is a tent for our soul and the spirit will return to God.

Why am I here? We’re not here to become wealthy or to collect things or to be famous for what we do. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 neatly sums up why we’re here:

“Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the duty of all mankind.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil.”

We have the answers to our greatest questions. At times we may run low on motivation to do what we should, but we know exactly why we’re here and what we need to do. If we obey God’s commands, we’ll have eternal life with Him in Heaven. That’s really the only answer we need.

Jay Mijares taught a lesson on Sunday on “A Time for Everything,” from Ecclesiastes 3:1-11. The first four verses read, “There is a season for everything and a time for every delight and event or purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.”

This scripture, attributed to King Solomon, refers to the speaker as ‘teacher’ or ‘preacher’. There are four points the Preacher wants us to understand with these words.

1) Yahweh God is the sole author of time and our existence. We see His majesty every time we look around. We need to remember that God is at work in all our circumstances.

2) If we work with God's timing, our lives will not be meaningless. A time to be silent and a time to speak reminds us to mind our words and know when to be silent, lest we regret what we’ve said.

3) Both good times and trials are how Yahweh God accomplishes His purpose for our lives. If God is our focus through it all, our work will be a blessing.

4) God's ultimate purpose is to mold us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these opposites make up our lives and our lives are controlled by God.

We are made to be eternal; this is His ultimate purpose. In eternity with God, we’ll understand our hardships and how all our experiences, good and bad, were ordained by God.

Jay left us with three questions to ask as we ponder eternity:

Do you see God's grand design in every part of your life?

Are you too busy working only for things that don't last?

Will you allow God to conform you into the image (character) of His Son?

We all work within the realities of our lives and our lives are blessed gifts from God. Let us use our skills and our lives wisely, to bear witness and testify to His glory.

John Mulligan’s message on Sunday continued his lesson on “Words of Life and Hope”. We hear far too many foul and profane words in modern life, but at the same time, we may not fully understand or appreciate many words from the Bible. The words of hope we learned about today were Hosanna, Amen, and Maranatha.

Hosanna comes from the Hebrew words Yasha (delivery, save) and Anna (beg, beseech). Together it’s saying “save, please” or deliver us, please. ‘Save us’ can be a desperate cry or an exclamation of praise, but it certainly reflects our dependence on Jesus as our only Savior.

Amen is a word we say so often that we might even say it without thinking. It means “so be it”, indicating that we agree completely with what was said. It’s used as a spiritual affirmation, expressing hearty agreement. We should take care not to use it flippantly.

Maranatha appears rarely in the Bible, but it simply means “Come, O Lord.” Some versions will show it as “Come, Lord Jesus.” However it’s worded, Maranatha reflects our anticipation of Christ’s return.

These, and many other, words of life and hope help to remind us that all the fear and drama of our current lives will soon pass. As believers, we know our past is forgiven, and we face forward, eagerly awaiting the glory that is to come.

On Sunday, Jay Mijares gave a lesson called “At the Gates of Hades.” Jesus was speaking in an area called Pan’s Grotto with a cave that was known as the “Gates of Hades.”

In Matthew 16:13-19, Jesus asked his disciples who the Son of Man was and (v. 14): “They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Crowds generally are looking for attention, power; they don’t think in logical, analytical ways. But when Jesus asked Peter (v. 16): “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Lessons Learned at the Gates of Hades:

1) The world sees Jesus as anyone other than God, but his one true nature is the Son of God. How we see him determines our fate.

2) Christ builds the church, not anyone else. Simon Peter was one small stone in the foundation of the church. We all build the church; we are the living stones working together.

3) Jesus' death and resurrection is the guarantee of the believer's salvation. We must continually renew our commitment to Jesus to ensure our future in eternity.

4) Jesus gives every believer a responsibility for using the keys. Keys open doors, and our key is the Gospel. Jesus gives us authority, to be responsible to do God’s will as His faithful followers.

Jay left us with 3 questions to ask at the gates of Hades:

• Who do you say Jesus is?

• Will you live your life like a living stone?

• How will you use the keys that Jesus has given you?

Let’s strive to always use the keys for the glory of God.

Sunday’s lesson by John Mulligan on Sunday was about “Words of Life and Hope - He is Our Everything”, that is all the descriptors we use for our Lord and Savior.

Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Immanuel means God with us. He doesn’t just love us from a distance; he wants to be right here, with us.

Messiah means promised deliverer. Matthew 1:1 describes him as “Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Jesus is the answer to that promise in Isaiah 7:14.

Savior - the one who saves us from evil, who guarantees our citizenship in Heaven, as we read in Philippians 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jesus - God saves. People can’t save themselves. God intervenes to save us from the dominion of darkness

Christ - the anointed one. He is the one designated to save us and the only one qualified to do it.

Lord - the authority over us. He gives us our instructions on how to live all aspects of our lives.

We are reviewing these words and definitions to remind ourselves what these words really mean. Today, we are reminding ourselves to treat these words with utmost honor and respect -- never as profanity. By doing this, we keep Jesus in that highest place of authority.

Jesus Christ is Lord, our Savior and our Messiah. He is our everything!

John Mulligan’s lesson on Sunday was on “Words of Life and Hope - Knowing and Living Hallelujah.” Let’s think about this word we hear so often.

Broken down, hallelujah means praise God. ‘Hallel’ is praise and ‘jah’ is God (Yahweh).

Hallelujah appears 29 times in the Old Testament, especially in Psalms 148-150. Praise God, His name is exalted! It’s only natural for us to honor Him.

Hallelujah is also a command to praise, with many examples throughout scripture. It’s spoken in various assemblies, as described in Psalms 148-150. It’s also spoken in Heaven. As it reads in Revelation 19:6, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.”

Hebrews 13:15 succinctly reminds us “Through Jesus, therefore, let us *continually* offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” We should praise Him at all times, in our good times and in our troubles.

In Philippians 4:10-20, Paul tells us that praise helps to keep things in perspective. Even when he was suffering in jail, he never stopped giving praise; he knew God would meet all his needs.

God wants to be close to us. We are always His precious children, even though we might pull away at times. He will see us through our times of pain. We won’t give up on our Lord God. Let us praise Him continually. Hallelujah!