We like, easy pat answers. Jesus rarely gave them. In the 4 Gospels, Jesus asked 307 questions! He loved to engage people by asking probing questions, and He often answered questions with a question. Jesus' questions were crafted to make us think about our lives in new ways. Taking the time to ponder His questions can lead us to discover new truth about God, life, and ourselves!
Why would a first century Rabbi travel thousands of miles by land and by sea? What would cause this person to journey across the world only to be shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, and killed for his faith? What would cause the same man to write words like “love is patient,” “hope does not disappoint” and “in everything, give thanks?”
A call from God to follow Jesus Christ, and to turn the world upside-down. His life. His ministry. His message. This is the life of Paul.
Most people desire deep, life-giving and long-lasting relationships. They can be really hard to find, and even harder to sustain. Whether it's a relationship with your spouse, parents, children, coworkers, friends, or a stranger on the street, it's true that successful relationships are a key component toward living the life we want to live. How do we find them? How do we keep them? This series focuses on what God is doing in every relationship we have.
This Easter, we're talking about the most important question ever. Do you believe? Your answer to this question changes everything. What's your response?
Who is God to you? Some of us view God as this unknowable and unapproachable thing up in the sky that doesn’t make much sense. Others of us would rather have a small, custom-built God who meets our emotional needs or suits our intellectual ideals. But our God is so much more. Creator. Provider. Lord. Throughout the Bible God shows us what kind of God He really is – and one way we can learn about God is by looking at the way God describes himself. And it’s beyond our wildest expectations.
Every video game you’ve ever played has a “restart” button – a chance to have a “do-over” and try again. Why can’t life be like that? Have you ever wanted to just hit “restart level”, and make some better decisions on your financial, physical, emotional health? Sure, we can’t actually turn back time, but we can try again.
The Bible gives us insight on how to rewind the clock and get a fresh start on the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we live. It reminds us that we’re never too far gone. We can refresh. We can get unstuck. We can restart.
What is your favorite Christmas ornament? If you’re like many people, you have quite a collection of different personalized memories that come in different sizes, shapes, colors that hang proudly on your Christmas trees. What ornaments do you think God would hang on his Christmas tree? Join us for the weeks leading up to Christmas as we celebrate how God has decorated our lives with ornaments of his own for Christmas at The Ridge.
If we’re honest, many of us are just surviving. We stumble through our day from task to task, clamoring to get a step ahead, or at least not fall too far behind. We work hard, we try to take care of our families, and what little is left in our tank we turn our eyes to God and ask, “Is this it? This is what we were made for? To just barely keep it together?” And the response, sometimes just a whisper, comes. In Jesus, we have an opportunity to not just survive, but thrive. We were made for more.