Life At The Ridge

How do you handle fear in your life? Do you stand strong or do you crumble? God's Word gives us some insight on how we are to handle fear.

Is is possible to find peace amongst all the troubling times? Is there any hope for those who are overcome with worry and anxiety? God's Word gives us a strong footing in a ever caving world.

Has fear gripped your heart recently? God's Word tells us over and over not to fear. As we look in Psalm 46 we see some dire circumstances and how God was at work through all of them.

Some practical application for our growth in Christ is learning how o be spiritually fit. Jude Souza was our guest speaker and shared with us not only the vision that God gave him and his wife Bree for mission work in Brazil, but also shared the Word with us about being spiritually fit.

One thing we cannot overlook is that the Christian life is a life of struggles, defeats and victories, but we have the Holy Spirit that helps us grow in our struggles, defeats and victories, and it is these struggles, defeats and victories that God is using to make us more like His Son Jesus Christ. What do you do in the times of weakness and inability? Do you rely on the flesh or the Spirit of God? Ultimately God is the one who does the sanctifying work in our lives!

The previous chapter leaves the believer in this place of constant struggle...The Law constantly revealing of how wicked we really are, and we cannot please God in the flesh, through the keeping of the law. So where is the victory? It’s found here in Romans 8 where there is no condemnation and no seperation!

Why do we need growth in our lives? In the Epistle to the Romans Paul lay's out for us a doctrinal foundation of growth for the Christian life. Over the next few weeks we are going to explore this important doctrine of sanctification as Paul explains it to us in Romans 6,7,8. In Romans 6 Paul asks a question that really helps us grasp this idea of not only our position in Christ but why should a Christian live in such a way that it reflects what is true about those who know Christ. What is your motive for living and growing in Christ? Why do you desire sanctification in your life?

What does it mean to grow spiritually? How do we know if we are growing spiritually? What does God use to help us grow? What are some misunderstandings about spiritual growth? In this message we lay a doctrinal foundation about what growth is, what the Word of God teaches, and how it applies to the believer. Are you ready to grow?

This is the last message out of this series about our Lord's teaching on his second coming and being prepared for his coming. To sum up all of our Lord's teaching he will give this last parable about the sheep and the goats. What do sheep and goats have to do with being prepared?

We're wrapping up the these last few parables that our Lord gives concerning when he will return. As he has been teaching us, we don't know when he will return as it will come unexpectedly, and suddenly. The Lord has been giving us these parables to illustrate these important truths. As we are waiting the true servants need to be serving. In Matthew 25 we learn about the parable of the talents and as we already saw two servants were busy in serving thus proving that they were true servants. What about the third guy who only had one talent?

Our Lord calls for us to be prepared. Constantly. Here in Chapter 25 he reinforces it by teaching two parables: The parable of the virgins in verses 1-13 and the parable of the talents in verses 14-30. Jesus want's us to understand very clearly that we need to be ready. We need to be prepared and we do that by making the most of the opportunities the Lord gives us.

As we have been going through the teaching of our Lord about His second coming in Matthew 24, we now turn to Matthew 25 and our Lord has been instructing us with parables, stories if you will about when His second coming will be. Of course no one knows the exact time, even Jesus himself does not know, but he has stressed over and over 4 times that He is coming and we need to be prepared. In Matthew 25 Jesus will give us another parable about the 10 virgins and teach us about being prepared for his coming. What do we learn from this parable that has not already been covered? Why would Jesus feel the need to stress again about being prepared? What does a wedding ceremony have to do with Christ's second coming?

As we have been studying the second coming of Christ, our Lord is stressing the point that he is coming. So we need to be ready, be prepared, be watchful, and alert. He is coming. In this last few verses of Matthew our Lord gives another parable to stress his coming and when he comes he will be looking for the wise and faithful servant. What does it mean to be wise and faithful and how does this relate to his second coming?

In this text in Luke its known as Maryʼs hymn of praise. It’s a song that Mary sang in response to Elizabethʼs recognition through the Holy Spirit that Mary was expecting the promised Messiah. In this praise song, Mary Praises God for His great mercy, but also for His righteous judgment. In this portion of Scripture we can understand how Mary made room in her heart for Christ and hopefully we too can learn how to make room in our hearts for Christ.

Ready or not, here I come! The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be unexpected and come swiftly without warning. Jesus in his Olivet Discourse gives some more details about His coming. In the verses to follow in vs 36-44 in Matthew 24 our Lord gives two examples of His coming. First he reminds us of how the judgement of God came upon those who perished by the flood, and also gives us another parable about the the thief that comes when the master of the house didn't know about it. What do we learn from these examples that helps us understand about His second coming?

The hope of every Christian is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. After Christ has just taught about His return to the disciples, he then begins to give a series of several parables to help illustrate the truths. The first parable he gives is about the fig tree. What awesome truths can we learn from this? How will this help us to be prepared for Christ's return?

So Jesus has explained to his disciples the birth pains, the sign of the abomination of desolation and the times of tribulation. We now come to verses 29-31 and we see Jesus coming in the clouds with "power and great glory" and His elect will be gathered with a loud trumpet call. In these few verses we can get a few ideas of what the coming of Christ will look like. The important thing to remember is that Christ is coming and he has given his disciples and countless generations the sign of his coming. Are we prepared for it?

What are you thankful for? As Thanksgiving is approaching us we often ask this question. Ultimately all of our thankfulness should be summed up in Christ. When we think of Christ's Words here in Matthew 24 these are going to be troubling times, how can the generation that will be living during that time be thankful? As believers we should be looking forward to Christ's second coming. During the tribulation times things are going to get very severe and Christ will come to put an end to sin and restore His kingdom. We should be thankful that Christ is coming back! Are you ready? Are you prepared?

So we finally come now to the key triggering event that is going to set everything in motion that is called the "Great Tribulation". Matthew 24:15 is a key verse that ties the birth pains in vs 4-14 in with what will happen in the great tribulation in vs 15-31. What is this abomination of desolation? How will all this take place? How does knowing about these events help us as believers now? How can we be prepared?

This is the last indicator that our Lord gives before the end will come. According to Matthew 24:14 the last indicator will be a world wide proclamation of the Gospel to every nation. How does a Christian's life play into this truth? What is the responsibility that Christians should have in proclaiming the Gospel now?