West Ridge EC Podcast

Jesus goes up on a mountain and selects his lead team in this week's passage, which brings up the role of mountains and valleys in our lives and how God uses both for His purposes.

Our next scene in Mark is also on the Sabbath, but this time the focus is on interaction with the Pharisee and how, afterward, Jesus retreats for some rest, but the crowds still come. From these snapshots, we will discuss looking for a reason to accuse, looking for a reason for revenge, and looking for a reason to heal.

Our next action scene has Jesus and his disciples being challenged about their spiritual practices around fasting and the Sabbath. We learn that there is a time to feast and a time to fast, a time to slow down to see what matters, and a time to rest in God.

In Mark's next scene, Jesus calls Levi to follow him. The calling of such a person continues the theme of forgiveness from the last scene, and we learn that we need divine help with forgiveness, the right way with forgiveness, and highway hypnosis with forgiveness.

This week we study the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man and discuss the need for other people in our journey of sanctification (becoming more like Jesus).

The speed of grace never outruns the peace of the Spirit.

Today we cover 6 questions about the nature of God and creation. 1. What does the Bible say about Jesus being fully God and fully human? Has he always been both? Are the other two people in the Trinity anything else? Did Jesus help create? What made God love us so much? 2. What does the Bible say about if it is blasphemy or not to call God “Her” instead of “Him”? 3. What does the Bible say about d...

Today's group of questions all have to do with different aspects of heaven. 1. Do Christian believers immediately go to heaven upon death and will we be in the presence of Jesus on that day? What about deep sleep or soul sleep? 2. What does the Bible say about Purgatory? 3. What is the scope and depth of our transgressions that will be reviewed “on the Jumbotron” when we are in Heaven? Every momen...

In the first part of this message series we will discover what the Bible says in response to these questions: 1. How can a real Christian vote for a government party platform that actively promotes and celebrates evil and creates policy that makes being a Christian more difficult? If a government system is opposed to God’s moral law how can a Christian possibly support anyone submitting to that id...

As we continue our series, today we deal with the issue of hearing what we don't want to hear. Samuel had been the leader of Israel for a long time and in our passage today we find out the people of Israel ask Samuel to give them a king. In this story we find constructive criticism, that everyone has problems, and that free choice means you make your own bed.

This week we read about results and reactions of the Philistines to being near the presence of God without getting to know God and will discuss how we should go beyond the surface to deeper talk with God. We will explore the healing, intimidation, and move from volunteerism to activity identity in deeper talk.

Happy Mother's Day! Today we will look at the story of Moses and contemplate the multiple women whose choices led to him having a chance to be born and grow up. We will discover the influence of those who fear God, those who trust God, faithful presence, and the lasting influence of a faithful life.

This week the saga of 1 Samuel continues when we find out what happens to the Philistines after they captured the Ark of the Covenant. We will delve into the ideas of syncretism (blending two things together) and separateness looking at how to separate God's sovereignty from our surrender and the weight of God's hand from the weight of his glory.

While God speaks in whispers, so do some not-so-good influences. As we look at the Israelites picking a battle they shouldn't have and the death of the high preist we will consider how we can discern the other whispers in battle, in our reasoning, and in our "birthing".

We jump back into our series in selections from First Samuel on the Voice of God. Today we look at when the boy Samuel first hears God's voice as a whisper in the night and we discuss the role of whispers, the misunderstanding of whispers, and the triggering effect of whispers.

Through looking at various ecounters Jesus had with his disciples after His resurrection we discover four possible responses to Him, encounter, restoration, mission, and dependence.

Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and through Matthew's account of the empty tomb we will discover the seeing of hope, the doing of hope, and the imparting of hope.

This week we study the Last Supper narrative where we discover three of the vital teachings of Christianity, the Lordship of Jesus, the Forgiveness of Jesus, and the Will of Jesus.

We begin an Easter series this week taking a look at a selection of the previous attempts on Jesus' life (before Good Friday). Through these stories we will discover the heart of Jesus' ministry and contemplate death from the perspective of what Jesus saves us from when we put our trust in Him.

This week, we take a look at the role of prophecy in hearing from God. We will discuss how it is confirmation, not information, and that its role is invaluable but not irreplaceable.

We begin our message series on the voice of God by considering the two questions: What's not the issue? And how do we hear? Then, grappling with the truth that not hearing from God means that we don't want to hear.

Today we do a soft launch into our series in First Samuel "The Voice of God" by first being led through the story of Hannah where we will think about what may be possible in our lives when we seek and ask the Lord.

We conclude our study series in First Timothy where the apostle gives all the final reminders to Timothy encouraging his readers to endurance in the faith so they can go the distance.

Today we explore deeper Paul's advice to Timothy about contentment being great gain and answer the questions "What is Contentment?" and "What does Contentment Do?"