Come To The Table

When boredom strikes, our hearts are quick to look for excitement. Sometimes, this searching can lead us to places and things that are not good for our souls. When you’re tempted to find pleasure in all the wrong places, be still before the Lord and ask Him to help you. As you’ll hear in this teaching, it is only in Jesus that you find true satisfaction.

Peter didn’t always make the right choices, and sometimes he took his eyes off of what mattered. When it seemed that Jesus was nowhere to be found, Peter fell back into his old habits. It wasn’t until he saw Jesus on the shore that he realized he wasn’t where he should be. He was called to be a fisher of men not of fish. The Lord designates some areas as off-limits to us because He knows they are...

It’s easy to want to go back to your old life when the new life God calls you to gets hard. The temptations can be challenging to resist, but when God calls you out, He calls you to something lasting, to something better. As you walk with the Lord, don’t allow doors from the past to remain open. Ask God to help you close what should be closed, and open what He has for you. Pastor Mark will remind...

Waiting is one of the hardest things to do. You can probably point to an event in your life in which waiting constituted the biggest part of a given problem. It’s not a new thing—you can see it in the lives of the disciples too. As Jesus walked with them, Jesus taught the disciples about patience, teaching them that although waiting is hard, patience really is a virtue! As you wait on the Lord, do...

When life hits you with hard things, it can be difficult to believe God is present, but sometimes, it’s the hard things that help you see God more clearly. So, rather than be embarrassed by the scars in your life, allow them to bring you closer to the Lord. If you’re wrestling with doubt today, ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you in a powerful way. Pastor Mark will be reminding you in this message...

Doubt pops into our lives at the strangest times, and it can be confusing. But in today’s message we’ll learn that we’re not alone. Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, doubted too! Be encouraged. It is not uncommon for a believer to experience doubt, but we shouldn’t live our lives in it. When we live in doubt, we can miss out on the amazing things God has for us. So take your questions to the Lord and l...

How can you overcome sin? Many believers struggle with this, finding that even after years into their faith journey, they still fall into the same temptations on a regular basis. God has so much more for you. The Holy Spirit is much strong than sin and the forces of evil that draw you towards it. In this teaching, Pastor Mark encourages us to invest ourselves in our faith. Even in the midst of gre...

If you sometimes struggle with doubts about God and the Bible, you are not alone. Even the most well-known and respected leaders of our faith have had doubts. Questions and skepticism can shake us to the core, but the only answer that matters is the Bible. The Bible is living and active. When approached with an open heart, it will transform your life. Cling to the Word of God, in and out of season...

We tend to get arrogant when we’re given a position of power and authority. You may see certain tasks or activities as below your paygrade or as something to be handled by someone a little lower on the totem pole. The world often operates in this manner, but the Church should not. Delegating as a leader isn’t a bad thing; it’s wise. Still, our perspective should never be that those under our leade...

In the women’s liberation movement, Christianity is not often referenced in a positive manner. Christianity is often accused of being repressive towards women. In this teaching, Pastor Mark draws our attention to the way that Jesus and His Church have actually elevated women out of cultural repression. Some branches of so-called Christianity have greatly misinterpreted and misused the Bible to jus...

God gave us our bodies and we are to be good stewards of everything He’s given us. But as Pastor Mark will remind us in this teaching, as much as we should honor these temples of the Holy Spirit, we also should remember that they’re only temporary. Our bodies will continue to degrade and eventually give out, but our spirits will last through eternity. Instead of focusing so much of our energy on f...

Have you been seeking the face of the Lord? All too often, we get so caught up in our routines and what will make us happy that we neglect to seek Jesus. In this teaching, we’ll encounter Jesus’ Disciple Mary expressing her devotion to the one who rescued her from demonic possession. When we look at what Jesus did for us, it makes any effort on our part look pretty small. In this teaching, Pastor...

Our faith can be one of deep unity or deep divide. When people accept the Lord, they are immediately unified with us and all believers throughout the world. When people reject Christ, however, they often look at us and other believers with disdain. This rejection can be extremely difficult-especially when those people are good friends or even family. As you deal with broken relationships, take hea...

A life free of suffering and pain doesn’t necessarily mean you are living within God’s will. As Pastor Mark points out in this teaching, God’s own Son endured unimaginable suffering according to God’s plan. While we’ll never experience pain as deep as the crucifixion, we should expect suffering throughout our walk with Christ. Instead of questioning God, we should look at suffering as an opportuni...

The pain Jesus endured on the cross goes beyond our comprehension. The emotional and spiritual pain of enduring all the guilt and shame of the entire world surpasses any pain—no matter how excruciating—that we as humans can experience. Despite this anguish, Jesus did not attempt to lesson His pain. In this teaching, Pastor Mark points out that Jesus’ entire focus was on others--His mother, His fol...

Pilate was a sick man. The label he placed about Jesus’ head—King of the Jews—was not only done to mock Jesus but also to mock the Jews. In essence, the sign was saying this is what happens to Jews who stand against Rome. In this teaching, Pastor Mark explains that while Pilate meant the words to be taken ironically, they were incredibly apt. Jesus was and is the only true King of the Jews.

Jesus wasn’t afraid to speak truth to power. The irony of His trial before Pilate was that Jesus was the only one in the room with true power, yet He submitted Himself to Pilate, a man whose power could be stripped away with just one word from Him. In this teaching, Pastor Mark explains that Jesus was never held against His will. He underwent pain and agony that few people have ever knows all by c...

Jesus never organized a march, protest, or a sit-in. Still, He’s the most influential person to have ever lived. He chose to focus on proclaiming the truth of God instead of on making political stands, allowing people to choose whether to soften their hearts or harden them in the face of His truths. In this teaching, Pastor Mark explains that political action can be warranted, but it should never...

Do you feel alone and hurt? Are you in pain—physically or emotionally? Jesus knows what you are experiencing on a close and intimate level. He went through the depth of suffering for your sake, and He went through it alone, all so He could meet you where you are and provide comfort.

Sin has been so destructive to mankind. It goes far beyond just death. As Pastor Mark points out in this teaching, sin brought emotional, physical, and psychological pain into the world that torments all men. Jesus endured every type of pain and stress that you or I can suffer, even more so, as he endured the excruciating death on the cross. By suffering on our behalf, he provided a way for us to...

A mentality exists among many Christians that believes the world should and will be thrilled at our message of salvation. That would be wonderful, but it would mean contradicting the sinful nature that pervades the hearts of men. In this teaching, Pastor Mark tells us to expect persecution and resistance. Effective change can only come about by sharing Christ and His grace with the world. Let’s gr...

People often say that Jesus and His disciples turned the world upside down. Pastor Mark points out, however, that our world has been upside down ever since Adam and Eve fell in the garden. Jesus came to restore the world—to set it right side up by changing the hearts of men back to what they were designed to be.

Generally, we are very aware of our areas of weakness. Whatever it is--lust, greed, anger, consumption--we know if we are especially prone to fall in that area. One of the best defenses against falling is to stay away from places, activities, or people that lead us towards those areas. As Pastor Mark points out in this teaching, on the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter ended up in a place he should no...

In this teaching, Pastor Mark explains the necessity of prayer in overcoming temptations and trials. Peter felt a fierce loyalty to Jesus and believed he was willing to die for him yet failed when the test came because his flesh was weak. We are in no place to ridicule Peter. The circumstances he faced would have tested even the most faithful of saints. Still, we can prepare for trials by committi...

Jesus willingly went to the cross. As we see demonstrated in today’s passage, just by uttering the declaration “I Am,” He unleashed enough power to knock down a battalion of soldiers. He humbled Himself for our sake, submitted to the Father, and took on the sin of mankind, all while possessing unlimited power.