Come To The Table

We’ve all heard of leaders falling to corruption of one sort or another. Sadly, it’s all too common. Leadership is a great responsibility with a lot of pressure. For those of us who aren’t in those high positions, we may look at leadership as glamorous and appealing, but the truth is, godly leadership involves servanthood, not glamour. Christ demonstrated that kind of servant leadership perfectly....

If you’re in Christ, you don’t have to worry about the future. Not only will He provide for you and your needs here and now, but in terms of the End Times, He has a plan for you. God loves you and if you’re part of His family, He won’t let you endure the extreme hardship that this world will experience. You may find yourself feeling like you’re already living through the tribulation but take heart...

Some dogs have patience because they’ve learned to trust their owner to give them a reward for good behavior. Others will go out seeking treats on their own, maybe in the trashcan, or under the table. Ultimately, they may get what they want, but they’ll likely make a mess and get themselves in trouble. As Pastor Mark illustrated, God wants us to be patient and attentive to Him. We can have confide...

We are so good at complaining. Think back over the last year and the decisions that have been made for you – like wearing a mask, being forced to homeschool your children, or staying home so much of the time. We’ve gotten used to many of these things, but even as restrictions lift, we easily find new sources of strife to fill our conversations and social media posts. Our lives should look differen...

The pandemic has brought out the worst in many of us. Instead of it being a time of uniting around a common purpose, it became an extremely politically charged matter. People have grown more and more divided over even the smallest issues, allowing hatred to grow in their hearts towards anyone that sees things differently than them. Pastor Mark challenges us as believers to be beacons of peace and...

Many churches have established a culture of perceived perfection. If you want to come in, you need to look the part. Often this involves the clothes you wear - for men, if you don’t have a suit jacket and tie or for the ladies, a dress, then you’ll stand out like a sore thumb. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with dressing up, but this can be harmful in the church when it creates an environmen...

Pastors are part of God’s design for His Church. He leads men to dedicate their lives to caring for and shepherding other believers, on top of sharing the Gospel with those who are lost. But sometimes we put way too much of our own responsibility as believers on the shoulders of these servants. As Pastor Mark will point out in this teaching, the Church in Thessalonica was doing very well when Paul...

Is your life characterized by hope and calm or by fear and bitterness? Those attitudes come from two very different sources. What does it tell the world about Christ when you claim to have faith in Him, but at the same time you’re moping around or acting out in anger because you’re afraid of what’s to come? Pastor Mark will remind us that in Christ we have no reason to fear anything. Even death it...

Most of us wouldn’t look back over the pandemic as a time of “soaring to new heights.” Especially in the early days, when so much was unknown and we weren’t supposed to even leave our houses, many people found themselves at an all-time low – filled with fear, anxiety, and frustration. In this message, Pastor Mark will challenge us to take on a different perspective. As followers of Christ, we can...

With more than a year of living during a pandemic behind us, most of us could say we’ve learned some things. Many of the big changes it brought about in our lives have taken on a kind of normalcy, but do you remember what a shock they were to your system and way of life? Many of us didn’t know what to do with all of the change – it was overwhelming. Today, Pastor Mark will encourage us to see all...

Thessalonica was a thriving city in Paul’s day. It would have been an epicenter of technology, trade, religious and ethnic diversity, and of course, you could find all manners of sin in this city. As Pastor Mark will point out in this message, the Thessalonians who came to faith in Christ embraced this new religion and the hope and joy it brought, but they were resistant to the laws and wanted to...

The amount of persecution we face for being Christians in our culture is minimal. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t facing pressure to compromise. We are often pressured to look past certain sins or ignore a few select parts of Scripture that don’t seem to align with modern science. If we do that, then we can love Jesus – as long as that Jesus fits the box they’ve created. In this message, Pastor Ma...

There are a lot of burdens you’ll face in this life that you can handle alone—just between you and God. You can strive and work and slowly make progress. With God’s help, you can get through by yourself, but as Pastor Mark will ask in today’s message, why should you? If it’s all about proving yourself, you’re going to burn out and likely find yourself sliding back under the burden. God gave us the...

Can you think of anything in your life that has been a burden? I’m sure we all can. Many of our burdens we have been born into. The heaviest of them is sin. It’s a weight that will drag us into eternal despair if we don’t do anything about it. As Pastor Mark will remind us in this message, Jesus has offered us relief from those burdens. Oftentimes, even after we ask Jesus to save us, we still hang...

If you had never stepped into a church or had a conversation with a believer, some of the terms and phrases used could be confusing. Christians might even sound like a violent bunch, with all the talk of crucifixion and sacrifices. Well, don’t worry – we’re not planning on hurting anyone or anything – we’re referring to a state of the heart. As Pastor Mark will explain in today’s message, to find...

There’s been a tendency among parts of the church to blame personal sin on forces outside of our control. Some point to chemical or psychological imbalances. Others point to demons as forcing them into actions and attitudes they don’t want. While there are sometimes psychological issues at play, in general, sin is a personal choice, and the responsibility for it lies squarely on our shoulders. Pas...

What have you been choosing today? To serve self or to serve God? It’s a daily decision. Many days, it can even be a moment-by-moment battle. This battle is easily lost if you depend on your own strength. But, when you lean into God and open yourself to the filling of the Spirit, He can empower you to be victorious. As Pastor Mark continues our study in the book of Galatians, he’ll challenge us to...

Love goes far beyond feelings. Our world equates love to that feeling of pleasure you get when you look at someone you find attractive and who is attracted to you. It centers around what that relationship does for you. That’s not real love. Real love serves others, even when you get nothing in return. In this world, you’re going to have to choose to love. It’s not going to come naturally, but it’s...

The Law doesn’t have grace built into it. As Pastor Mark will illustrate in this message, if you roll through a stop sign, even if you almost stop, you’ve still broken the law. If you drive 56 in a 55 mile per hour zone – you’ve broken the law. If the police weren’t human, they would fine you on the technicality. With God’s Law, we’re judged on a heart level. That makes it impossible to be righteo...

If you found out tomorrow that you were the long-lost first child of the Queen of England or one of the world’s richest people – Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos for example—you would suddenly find yourself as an heir to great power and wealth. As incredible as that would be, each one of us is invited to become heirs in a Kingdom that’s far greater than the greatest kingdoms of earth. As Pastor Mark will...

We often get comfortable in our spiritual slavery. It’s hard to imagine any person choosing to remain in slavery when offered a way out, but freedom also bears new responsibilities, and that can be intimidating. In a spiritual sense, we may desire to be free, but we know that accepting Christ’s offer of salvation will come with its own costs. Even for many of us who are saved, we have an inclinati...

Throughout the centuries, people have fashioned their own forms of Jesus in order to accommodate their needs. We all desire a Savior – God’s placed that desire in our hearts – but if the one true Jesus doesn’t fit the mold that we prefer, we have a tendency to go looking for a version of Him that will. Many religions and denominations have been formed as a result of this prideful desire. If you re...

If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior and submitted to Him, you’re chained to sin. Whether you’re aware of it or not, in your disobedience, you’re serving the enemy of God. The incredible news of the Gospel is that you don’t have to stay in that slavery. When Christ opens your eyes to your need for Him, you’ll find that He requires nothing of you but faith. In this teaching, Pastor Mark wil...

Whether it’s music styles, hat-wearing, dress codes, or other various church traditions, it’s important not to equate our manmade customs with God’s Laws. Today, Pastor Mark will point out some of the ways we cling to legalism in the modern Church. We have been made free in Christ. That doesn’t mean you can just go on doing whatever you want to do. If He’s transforming your heart – you won’t want...

We have this built-in tendency as humans to cling to any sense of control we have in our lives. Even when we become aware of our sinfulness, instead of realizing the gap between us and God is too big, we try our hardest to find ways to cross it on our own. As Pastor Mark will point out in this teaching, there is no way for us to achieve righteousness by our own power and means. We may find ourselv...