When life is easy, faith is easy. But what about when life is hard? When you’re hurting? When you don’t feel like anyone is listening? Where is God and why would He let this happen? Joseph faced questions just like those. His life was hard and he lost everything. But that wasn’t the end of his story. God was not absent. God had a plan. He always has a plan.
Being intimate. Making whoopee. Hanky panky. Adult naptime. Bow-chick-a-wow-wow. There are many names for sex and even more opinions on the role it’s supposed to play in our lives. It can be confusing… but it doesn’t have to be. Sex is a gift God gave humanity. So how do we honor Him with it? Join us as we talk about the elephant in the bedroom and dig into what the Bible says about sex.
We want faith to be safe and easy. It’s not. Jesus didn’t come to fit neatly into our lives where it’s convenient for us. Jesus came to lead a counter-cultural revolution – a gathering of radicals committed to live for something greater. Jesus doesn’t want our lives to be fine… he wants them to be deeper and richer and more meaningful than we can imagine.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about his plan for us to experience the life we long to know. It’s a promise to flip life upside-down. It’s a call to live radically.
The end. It's the last part of the story. It's the conclusion. It signifies that nothing else is going to happen, that nothing else is coming. It's final.
When Jesus died on the cross, it looked like the end. His family mourned him and his followers scattered in fear. It seemed like all that they believed in was a lie. How could Jesus be all that he said he was, all that they hoped he would be? He was gone.
Stories end… but this one didn’t. Jesus's death wasn't the end. God's story wasn't finished. The resurrection changed everything, allowing us to know the living Jesus and say, because he is risen, I am new.
Life is full of questions. Big questions. Hard questions. Questions that we often don’t want to think about because we’re not sure how to make it to the other side. We see this tension so clearly in the life of Peter; that finding answers means digging in, not running away. It means taking a long, hard look at our lives and seeking truth: about ourselves, about our world and our place in it and about the God who created it all. It means coming face to face with the person in the mirror.
Who is God? What does it mean to know Him? How do we do that? These are huge questions… but they are important ones. We will be looking at those questions and more as we seek to understand what it means to know God and be known by Him. God wants us to know Him! With open arms He invites us in. We hope this series serves as a signpost on your journey saying… welcome to God.
Presents. Trees. Candy canes. These are some of the many things that make the Christmas season feel like Christmas. Christmas carols are another. They’re songs that many of us have sung for years. These songs are more than just nostalgia. They tell a rich story about Christmas, what it means and why it matters. Join us we experience the story of Christmas through the songs we sing.
Money. We spend our lives working to get more of it, stressing about the lack of it and wondering where it all went. We tend to believe that just a little more would fix everything.
Jesus talked about money all the time. It can’t be all bad, right? So what is myth and what is truth? The Bible has a wealth of advice about money. See what God has to say about healthy ways to view and use our money.
“More” will change things… but it’s not always the “more” we think.
Things don’t always go how we plan. Stuff happens. Hardship is a reality. When those moments come, we can forget we are not alone. That God has not abandoned us. It can be hard to see how God is at work, but He is.
Ruth tells the story of how God kept his promises to one family through the hardships they experience on their journey. God cares for us, often in ways we can’t see or imagine. God promised He would.
Wouldn’t it be nice if family came with an instruction manual? Something to help you navigate marriage and parenting and relationships? Something to help you know how to “family” better? You’re in luck. Join us as we dig into the book of Proverbs to better understand how God created us to live and function together. We could all use help sometimes because family can be hard… family can be challenging… family can be messy.
Stories help us remember the past, the present, the aches, the scars, who we are, who God is. The Ridge has a story to tell everyone of all God is doing and all He has done. So today, as we gather, we are here to remember what happened five years ago this September. So, listen to a story of some triumphs and aches of a church that wants to do whatever it takes.
We like “real” things. Words like off-brand, generic and knockoff all have a slightly negative feel to them. We want the genuine article, the real deal, the ‘based on a true story’ story. Authenticity resonates with us. We find it compelling. It’s no different when it comes to matters of faith. We want to invest our lives in the real thing. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah confronts people with a simple question: If God is real, isn’t He worth following?