Multitudes of people are living lives that are devoted to causes and convictions that agree with their philosophy and world view. Even the agnostics and atheists who say they do not embrace anything are slaves and servants to their god or gods of “nothingness.”

Many are entrenched in religious customs and habits but do not walk in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In Genesis 17:1-2, God appeared to Abram when he was ninety-nine years old and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me and be blameless, and I will establish my covenant between Me and you.”

To walk with God means to commit oneself to obedience to His voice as a lifestyle and pattern of conduct. It means to follow God’s flow and leading of His Holy Spirit with every heartbeat and breath we take. Jesus, our highest and most perfect example of walking in obedience to His heavenly Father while on earth said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)

Therefore, for true believers in Christ today, walking with God means to receive and obey the revelations of God spoken to us by His Holy Spirit who resides in all His children.

We need to come to the realization that it wasn’t the people noted in the Scriptures being great people…it was those people with the powerful Spirit of God in or upon them that allowed those things to happen through them…whether it was writing the Bible or doing some amazing acts that are recorded in the Bible.

What a holy privilege WE have, being born after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus left us the Comforter—the Holy Spirit—to DWELL within…and WE become the Temple (the dwelling place) of the Spirit of God.

Or do you just sing-song Bible verses? Do you just memorize them as a Sunday School class assignment? Do you really know the great power of God, and that in His greatness you can face and defeat each and every trial, temptation or challenge? You CAN do all that God requires of you in the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual areas of your life.

Don’t be a whiner…be a winner in Christ Jesus! And that is why it is said, “Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world.” (I John 4:4)

Over the past 40 years or so there has been an unfortunate trend for the American male to be abdicating his responsibilities as the God-appointed spiritual leader and head of his family. The male’s failure to “man-up” under the strength, enablement and wisdom of God has evolved into a climate of weakness, softness, and feminization of his manhood.

Because of his reluctance to lead, the woman has been forced to assume the man’s responsibilities in order to survive. How many households do you personally know of where the father is absent or has failed to lead under God’s authority? All too often this is the case, and the trend continues at an alarming rate.

Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth, a city full of immorality and idolatry and said, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all be done in love.” (I Corinthians 16:13,14)

What an appropriate message for our fathers today. Most any man can fertilize an egg, but godly fatherhood is another matter. Men, dads, fathers—“man-up” while there is still time—awaken from your sleep and slumber. (See Romans 13:11-13) Our families are waiting for your response to God’s calling. To all our fathers who have been faithful to God and are currently fulfilling their godly fatherhood responsibilities today, we are grateful.

Suffering is real, whether we caused it or not. The point is when it is physical suffering, we are willing to suffer a bit more in order to get it fixed so it won’t interfere with our full functioning anymore.

Will you have a scar? Many times you will. Does the scar hurt like the original injury? Not usually…but it is a vivid reminder of what happened. Hopefully a reminder that helps you not do the action again that caused the injury.

In following a life in Christ, there is much suffering because we are trying to live a fully functional life with broken parts and pieces. We cannot do it without pain. The more we give to God, the more He can fix. The suffering will never go away completely because the journey requires a total makeover. But what an awesome difference when we begin to walk with some of the broken parts fixed! How can we do that? God gives us ample guidance in the Scriptures (quick summary is found in Part 1):

• Entrance into a covenant with the FAMILY OF GOD (Matthew 12:50)
• God will BEAR YOUR BURDENS (Psalm 68:19)
• Your PROVISIONS WILL BE BLESSED (Exodus 23:25)
• WEAKNESS AND WEARINESS will be REMOVED (Exodus 23:25)
• You will have an EVERLASTING NAME (Isaiah 56:5)
• You will receive a NEW HEART to KNOW GOD (Jeremiah 24:7)
• You will receive a NEW SPIRIT that will BE ABLE TO OBEY GOD (Ezekiel 11:19-20)
• You will ENTER INTO HIS REST (Matthew 11:28)
• The HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU (Luke 11:13)
• You will NEVER PERISH but have ETERNAL LIFE (John 10:28)
• You will receive the CROWN OF LIFE in heaven (Revelation 2:10)

The sufferings of Christ might make us wince and say, “Ouch, that hurts!” A surgeon or a medical doctor may often have to hurt you to fix you. But how much more effective result we will receive when it is not just a broken bone or disease that will be removed to bring you a small amount of comfort, but a whole, totally new part that will bring freedom, faith and a future with God.

Remember, suffering has value when you have the right view concerning it…and then it can bring you to victory.

(Due to technical malfunction with our recorder, the first few minutes of this evening's message did not record. The recording begins five minutes into the message. Pastor Pugsley is giving a review of Part 1 of this series.)

God doesn’t want us to suffer, but it is inevitable because this isn’t heaven! We are faced with:

• The fallen nature of man
• The cursed earth because of that fall
• Satan and his foul companion

Through it all, God loves us with a love we barely understand. But He makes no excuse for sin and makes the standard clear.

Many do complain that God is unfair, that this earth is a mess because of Him, that suffering is His mistake…but I want us to take another look at “suffering”. I don’t mean suffering because of the common problems of the day…most of which we bring on ourselves with poor decisions in the realm of health, finances, relationships, etc.

What I’m talking about is an “attitude” about suffering…what’s yours? Where does “suffering” come into your understanding of the truths of God? Are you angry, confused, or just plain old neutral?

Romans 14:8 “for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

Is that your attitude? Not hardly, but it can be! Suffering is real, whether we caused it or not. The point is when it is physical suffering we are willing to suffer a bit more in order to get it fixed so it won’t interfere with our full functioning anymore.

Will you have a scar? Many times you will. Does the scar hurt like the original injury? Not usually, but it is a vivid reminder of what happened. Hopefully, it will be a reminder that helps you not do the action again that caused the injury.

In following a life in Christ, there is much suffering because we are trying to live a fully functional life with broken parts and pieces. We cannot do it without pain. The more we give to God, the more He can fix. The suffering will never go away completely because the journey requires a total makeover. But what an awesome difference when we begin to walk with some of the broken parts fixed! How can we do that? God gives us ample guidance in the Scriptures:

• Entrance into a covenant with the FAMILY OF GOD (Matthew 12:50)
• God will BEAR YOUR BURDENS (Psalm 68:19)
• Your PROVISIONS WILL BE BLESSED (Exodus 23:25)
• WEAKNESS AND WEARINESS will be REMOVED (Exodus 23:25)
• You will have an EVERLASTING NAME (Isaiah 56:5)
• You will receive a NEW HEART to KNOW GOD (Jeremiah 24:7)
• You will receive a NEW SPIRIT that will BE ABLE TO OBEY GOD (Ezekiel 11:19-20)
• You will ENTER INTO HIS REST (Matthew 11:28)
• The HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU (Luke 11:13)
• You will NEVER PERISH but have ETERNAL LIFE (John 10:28)
• You will receive the CROWN OF LIFE in heaven (Revelation 2:10)

The sufferings of Christ might make us wince and say, “Ouch, that hurts!” A surgeon or a medical doctor may often have to hurt you to fix you. But how much more effective result we will receive when it is not just a broken bone or disease that will be removed to bring you a small amount of comfort, but a whole, totally new part that will bring freedom, faith and a future with God.

May we be willing to say, “Bring it on!” And God keep us with His mercy. Amen.

You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way; but sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The “swimming hole” of life is filled with peril, and we often forget that the enemy is waiting there to attack.

God loves you, but Satan wants you suffering and in pain. And when God sees that Satan has hold of you, like an attacking alligator, that's when the tug-of-war begins. God has promised to never let go and fights to pull you back to safety. So if some of you have scars, be very, very grateful. Those scars are because He did not and will not ever let you go.

[Scripture References:  Proverbs 20:30, James 1:2-3, Psalm 119:71-72, Genesis 50:20, Romans 5:3-4]

Prior to the morning's message, Pastor Mark opens the floor to life testimonies. It is great encouragement to hear how the Lord is working in each of our lives. 

On May 13, 2012, we celebrated a National holiday called Mother's Day. Today, we'd like to share with you the message Pastor Mark Parsons gave us on that day. He spoke of how a Mother's love many, many years ago affects each and every one of us today and was a part of the fulfillment of God's plan.

During the time of Israel’s captivity in Egypt, the Israelites multiplied immensely. The Egyptian Pharaoh said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.” (Exodus chapter 1). He feared that the Hebrews would overthrow his rule, and he implemented a plan, an evil one, to destroy the Hebrew males at birth, which failed. The king then ordered his people to cast the male infants into the dangerous and crocodile-infested Nile.

With the Pharaoh’s plan in place, he could accomplish a two-fold purpose: first, the babies would sacrificially appease one of their major gods, the Nile, and secondly, Israel’s population would be controlled and managed. However, Moses’ mother, Jochebed, having faith in the Living God, hid Moses for three months not fearing the king’s edict (Hebrews 11:23-24). She then continued to trust God completely to protect and care for her son. She placed Moses into the Nile (the World) in a basket (God’s armor) well-crafted and sealed from the invasive waters and dangers beneath and above.

We need mothers today, like Jochebed, who will do whatever is necessary to faithfully enrich and teach their children to walk after and trust God alone through Jesus Christ. We need mothers who will declare to the World (the Nile), “You can’t have my children, not on my watch. They have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise...” (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30)

Audio: (Click forward button below to play audio of sermon and/or download file.)

Personal Testimonies: Prior to the morning's message, Pastor Mark opens the floor to life testimonies. It is great encouragement to hear how the Lord is working in each of our lives. Click the forward button below to play the personal testimonies of Pastor Mark and others and/or download file.)