Come To The Table

Naturally, we focus on our own perspective when we think about rapture and meeting Jesus face to face. Unless you’ve experienced a rare vision of His face, most of us have not seen the Savior we’ve placed so much faith in. As Pastor Mark will explain in this teaching, if you’re filled with longing for Jesus, you can be certain that His longing for us is greater than anything we can feel in our lim...

In so many ways, our culture has desensitized us to sin—especially when it comes to sex. You could survey many Christians and get a wide variety of answers on what God is okay with as far sexuality goes. It’s not that this isn’t a complex issue, but God designed us, and His Word should be the final word on how we approach this matter.

Sin is a big deal. It’s much more destructive than we may like to acknowledge. If you’ve ever been caught up in it—as all of us have been—you know how hard it can be to leave that sin behind. Some sins are more subtle and easier to look over, but as we’ll be challenged in this teaching, we need to take a hardline stance again ANY sin that persists in our lives.

God never said that His children shouldn’t have fun. All too often, our time with Him—whether at church or in private prayer time—is more like a funeral or confessional more than a celebration of who He is. God created joy and equipped us to experience pleasure, and by partaking, we can bring Him glory and reflect His love.

Sometimes as believers we look at non-believers with unrealistic expectations. We expect them to abide by the same life-giving laws that we follow and may even get angry when they don’t. As Pastor Mark will stress in this message, you have to be sure that you stand against actions, not persons when it comes to taking a stand against wickedness. Remember, they haven’t been transformed by Jesus yet,...

Are you in love with Jesus? He’s full of grace and mercy and when we simply trust Him, He secures us for eternity. So, if we’re secure, why not just live however we want and enjoy the pleasures of this world? Why should we dedicate ourselves to serving Him and reaching others? As Pastor Mark will explain in this teaching, our obedience and righteousness should be completely motivated by our love o...

As we continue to study Paul’s letter to the believers in Thessalonica, we’ll see Paul express the way they encouraged him in his faith. We may not think of Paul or the other early Church leaders as needing help from those they led, but they absolutely did. They were human, just like us, and they needed others to push them closer to God.

It’s uplifting to talk about the power of God—and it should be—but oftentimes, when we ask for His power, it is in the context of overcoming the enemy in some dramatic way. He does provide that kind of power, but He also empowers us to endure the sufferings that come from following Him. It may not be something we look

The Western Church has misplaced expectations in regards to the society around us. We get easily offended when we experience the most minor persecution. We’ve enjoyed religious freedom in our country, but the trend in this fallen world is always going to be towards rejecting and oppressing true followers of Christ. We need to remember that our ultimate mission is to reach the lost for Christ throu...

Our country, as well as many others, has a shameful history of sin against God in the form of slavery and the general oppression of people of color. Through the fiery trial of civil war as well as through the brave leadership and sacrifice of those who stood up for civil rights throughout the years, we’ve made a lot of progress. Our nation moved towards honoring God through justice, and in this te...

I’m sure you’ve heard it said that “History is written by the victors.” This well-known quote implies that history, as we know it, is biased against groups that were conquered or defeated. While this is true in many cases, the history found in the Bible defies this characteristic. Through supernatural guidance, the authors of this In John chapter 13, Jesus challenged His disciples with this: “They...

I’m sure you’ve heard it said that “History is written by the victors.” This well-known quote implies that history, as we know it, is biased against groups that were conquered or defeated. While this is true in many cases, the history found in the Bible defies this characteristic. Through supernatural guidance, the authors of this In John chapter 13, Jesus challenged His disciples with this: “They...

From the very beginning, Satan has brought God’s Word into question in order to cause humans to stumble. He did this with Adam and Eve in the Garden. Of course, they didn’t have the Bible as we know it; they had been given instructions directly by God--hearing His voice – and even still, Satan was able to introduce enough doubt to lead them into sin. God’s Word is under attack today. It’s written...

Almost all of us will have some kind of leadership role in our lives. Being a follower of Christ brings a whole new weight to that role. Not only do you need to be concerned with the well-being of those you lead, but you need to be mindful of how your behavior reflects Jesus. As Pastor Mark will clarify in this teaching, you can’t expect perfection of yourself or any leader, but you should expect...

All of us have basic needs, including pastors. Many people tend to feel resistant when a pastor starts talking about money. Some of this comes from very real and shameful stories of pastors and spiritual leaders extorting people, using their position to con congregations. The majority of God-loving, people-serving pastors are not in that boat. Pastor Mark will point out in this teaching that even...

Some pastors and leaders rely on charisma and charm to attract crowds. Their ministries can look incredibly successful as droves of people enter the doors every weekend and buildings and programs expand. That’s a very shallow measure of success, and while you can call it that in worldly terms, it’s not necessarily a success for the Kingdom of God. As Pastor Mark will point out in this message, peo...

Being a godly leader will require hard conversations. It’s inevitable. The goal should never be to offend, but we can’t avoid conversations just out of fear. A leader must be able to apply God’s Word and address someone in accordance with it. If God inspired it to be written down in His Word, it’s important to Him and should be important to us. As Pastor Mark will challenge us in this message, don...

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...