Ridge Life Podcast

What kind of authority does Jesus have? What can He do? What can He do in our lives?

This Sunday we wanted to take some time and talk about deacons. We are seeking to have a man who could serve in that official office in this church. So we, the elders, thought it would be helpful to all of us to understand what a deacon is and what a deacon does.

In this portion of the letter Paul wants these Galatian believers to once more see Christ clearly. He wants them to focus their attention back on Christ. He wants them to look again over and over and over focusing on the Gospel. They had become deceived by another Gospel. This is what we need as well if we are going to grow in Christ and not be entangled with the lies of legalism.

What does a justified life look like? The Gospel does some pretty amazing things in a persons life. Paul lets his readers know what the Gospel does not do and what the Gospel always does.

What do you fear? We all have things that frighten us from time to time. We also find that we may find ourselves in a habit of fearful living or lives that are marked by anxiety. Jesus confronts our fears with the question "why are you so fearful?"

Paul has been stressing that we are not justified by faith. Salvation comes as a result of justification and nothing that we do in our own righteousness. What is justification and what does it mean to be justified by faith in Christ?

How are you growing in your Christian life? Peter tells us that we are to be adding certain things to our faith to help us grow.

Our Lords resurrection was definitely miraculous! Never has anyone said that they would die, and then say they will resurrect from the dead and actually do it. The resurrection is fundamental to Christianity. You can say that all of Christianity rises or falls on the reality of Christ rising from the dead. If you read through the Gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection in Luke and John you will find 7 questions that Jesus asked people that saw Him after He resurrected from the dead. We will explore two questions Jesus asked Mary at the empty tomb.

Why do you follow Jesus? On the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem there were many people who were shouting "Hosanna!" why were they calling out to Jesus to save them? Were they following Jesus for the right reasons?

Allan McGuire teaches out of Mark 4:21-34 about the several parables Jesus gave.

Grace is a free gift from God. We are saved by grace and not through good works. But do we admit that we can grow only by that same grace? Do we believe that we need His grace each and every day, as much as we did at the beginning of our relationship with Him? Peter as we will see in this passage was using grace in the wrong way and at the same time promoting a false view of grace and a false view of salvation that Paul had to correct. Grace is not a word that we can throw around to do whatever we want to do and act any way we want to act. Grace is costly and there are some things that Grace will not tolerate.

As Paul continues to help the churches in Galatia understand the importance of the Gospel, he recalls what took place in his salvation and that the Gospel is worth fighting for. How do we fight for the Gospel?

What are the differences between God's Gospel and Man's Gospel? Paul wants the church's in Galatia to how that the Gospel that he received and believed was not from man, but from God.

Chapter 4 of Mark gives us the parable of the different soils. How does the Word of God work in our lives from the Cradle to the Grave and the in-between?

In chapter 1 of Galatians Paul is going to get right to the point and the point was that these believers were not holding fast to the Gospel. They were in Pauls words “have turned to another Gospel” These were believers and yet they were wooed away by a false gospel. How can we hold fast to the Gospel so we are not carried away by the false gospels that are out there?

In this series we will be exploring the rich truths found in our salvation with Christ. In this introduction we will set the stage for our freedom that we have in Christ.

As we wrap up the last few verses out of the book of Micah, we encounter a question from Micah. "Who is like you O God?" What do we know about the only God who saves us, redeems us, and forgives us?

What exactly is the unforgivable sin? What does it look like for a person who has committed this sin?

The flavor of this chapter is completely different than the previous chapters. Throughout this book it's been a courtroom setting. God is bringing a lawsuit against his people. Chapter 7 however is different. The style of writing changes from this covenant lawsuit to more of a response of distress and lamenting. This chapter is very personal. Micah in this chapter is responding to the coming disaster.

Court is still in session, and the Lord is going to show Israel the evidence of their guilt and then pass judgement upon them.

Chapter six begins the third message of judgement which will be followed by a message of hope that goes through the remainder of the book. In this chapter it gives off a feeling of a courtroom setting. It's very personal. God is going to be the judge. The mountains and the hills, that is the earth, is going to be called as a witness or a jury to dispense either guilty or not guilty. Judah (the southern kingdom) is going to be the defendant, And God calls Micah to be the prosecutor to bring God's case against His people.

Mark 3:7-21 gives us some insights to the types of people Jesus encountered in His ministry. We see Him encountering the crowds as He healed many. We see Him calling His disciples and we see Jesus as He encounters His own family.

In the rest of chapter 5 here Micah is going to give us some details about His reign. What will the reign of Christ be like when He returns to rule and reign from the throne of David in Israel? Vs 5-6 When Christ comes He will bring peace and protection. Vs 7-9 Christ's reign will be powerful. Vs 10-15 Christ's reign will purify His people.

In this portion of Micah 5, Micah warns about Judas coming destruction and captivity, but then give some hope as concerning the coming king that will come out of Bethlehem and what the coming kingdom will look like as Jesus sits on the throne and shepherds His people with justice and peace.

The tone of Micah 4 is completely different than how chapter 3 ends. Micah tells us of a coming kingdom where the Lord Himself will rule.

The Lord will rescue the remnant, He will deliver His people and He will restore them. Micah's message out of chapter 4 is one of a coming hope and these words would have brought much encouragement to a nation that was about to go into exile for 70 years.

Geff Fisher speaks about the life of Jesus out of the book of Mark.

Micah continues his message of judgment and not only has he singled out the politicians but now he turns his judgment on the the spiritual leaders, the prophets. These prophets were giving messages only for what they could get from the people. God has some strong words for these corrupt people and this corrupt nation.

Micah is primarily giving judgement to the the northern kingdom of Israel. Although he will give some messages of judgement to the Southern kingdom as well later in his message, he primarily right now is pronouncing judgment on Samaria and their judgment would soon come to pass in 722 B.C when the Assyrian Empire would come in and destroy Samaria and take captive the people. The Southern kingdom would last a little bit longer and ultimately be destroyed and the people taken captive and led off by the Babylonian empire in 586 B.C. Why does this happen? Because they rejected the Lord and His ways. They worshiped false idols and allowed sin to rule their lives.

These last two verses are a promise of the coming king that will lead His people, if you can get the picture of what Micah is saying it's a picture of hope, restoration and victory. These people living in Samaria, the Northern Kingdom would soon be defeated by the Assyrians. Later in 586 B.C the southern kingdom, Jerusalem would also be defeated and carried off to Babylon by the Babylonians and so to be living during that time and hear pronounced judgment upon you, but then followed by a message of hope was very encouraging.

Marks gospel account is many snapshots of Jesus. We see Jesus going and doing. It really emphasizes Jesus as the suffering servant. Today we are going to see 3 snapshots of Jesus' ministry in three events. All three of these involve Jesus and the Pharisees and there are three questions that are asked of Jesus. The Pharisees question Jesus' motives, His leadership, and His authority. In these three events and questions we see one answer to the Pharisee's questions. The answer is basically that Jesus is Lord.

Here in chapter 2 God is going to get a little more specific and point out the problem of what these people were doing which was covetousness and corruption. In vs 1-5 we will see Micah points the finger at those who were in the government. These were the guys that were in positions of power. In vs 6-11 Micah points the finger at the prophets. These were the religious leaders.

In the opening chapter of Micah 1, we get a courtroom scene where God is calling the whole earth into His courtroom. God tells us that He is coming and when He comes it's not going to be a pretty picture. What can we do and how should we respond to His coming?

Micah is a prophet whose name means "who is like the Lord" In this book we are told some reasons why God is going to allow His nation to be destroyed by the Assyrians in 723 B.C and by the Babylonians in 586 B.C

In this portion of Scripture Jesus heals the man that was carried by four men and let down through a roof. A miracle takes place in the man picking up his bed and walking, but Jesus teaches us that the healing was not the greater miracle.

In this final chapter God tells us exactly why Nineveh is deserving of His judgement. God will destroy all of His enemies, but we must not forget who the real enemy is.

Why does God destroy His enemies? Why was Nineveh going to be destroyed? How would Nineveh be destroyed? Nahum chapter 2 outlines for us God's destruction of His enemies.

Does God's wrath make you feel uncomfortable? Is God really that mean? In the book of Nahum we are going to see a full display of God's judgement against the city of Nineveh.

As we begin to work our way through the book of Nahum, it's important to understand the historical setting and background.

In this section of Mark we see Jesus touching the lives of several people and having power to heal.

Jon Sparks gave this message out of the life of David as to why David lost his way and some helpful lessons on how to stay on the path that pleases God.

These last few verses of the book of Jonah are comprised of some questions God has for Jonah. We find that Jonah still has some much needed heart surgery to be accomplished. God asks Jonah these questions to deal with his heart issues and change his perspective.

So here's Jonah, he has just seen an entire nation, an entire city repent at a very simple but straight message about repentance. We might think OK show's over, this was a great triumph! Jonah probably is happy by this point. Jonah's probably thinking I can go home now, mission is over. But that's not what we're going to find in chapter 4. Chapter 4 actually tells us otherwise. It tells us that Jonah was angry. So there is a huge problem in Jonah's heart and God is going to instruct Jonah through His grace that is going to hopefully help Jonah grow in his understanding who God is.

Jesus has tremendous authority and power. He has the power to rescue sinners from Satans dominion and take them from darkness to light.

The repentance and the grace of God is so fantastic to see in how the Ninevites responded to God's message. Not only did the Ninevites repent, but God did as well!

Through the preaching of Jonah the people of Ninevah repent. The people believed God and repented. Why is repentance necessary for God's grace? God shows great grace to this great city because they repented.

After Jonah was swallowed by the great fish, we hear him praying from inside the fishes belly. What did Jonah learn, what did he say?

Allan McGuire one of our Elders brought this message out of Mark for our Elder Series.

Vs 17 is a striking verse, as it reveals to us about God's sovereignty. The LORD prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, but we see a greater God who is at work in Jonah's life and is making all things to work together for good.

The LORD sent a great wind on the sea to pursue after His prodigal prophet. The LORD will send storms in our life to bring us back to Him.

What is the book of Jonah about? Why does God decide to use this prodigal prophet for His own desires? What does the book of Jonah teach us about God?