Ridgedale Students

Tonight we look at John 6 part 1 with AnnaKate Potter focusing on seeing the real Jesus who sees us, knows us and provides for us.

What do we do with the healing miracles (or signs) of Jesus in John? The signs and wonders of John are meant to be understood as inbreakings of the Kingdom of God that reveal certain realities about life in the here and now as well as life in eternity to come. As Jesus heals people of sickness and disease (an action that comprises 1/5 of all miracles in the gospels), Jesus is declaring that the Ki...

John 3 is packed with theological weight and memorable scripture, but even more it offers us the story of a man who knew his life was out of sync but couldn’t figure out how to change. In steps Jesus with a gentle but direct word to Nicodemus on how real change occurs.

As we continue in our series, Presence, we see Jesus calling the first of His disciples in John 1:35-51. Something that jumps out immediately upon entering our text is the second proclamation in John of, "Behold the Lamb of God." There's a unique flavoring of presence in this passage in the way that Jesus calls these disciples and reveals Himself to them. It tells us something unique about our dis...

What does a house that honors all do? It eventually becomes a place of great blessing.

What drives thriving culture? For many churches, organizations, even friend groups, the driving force behind much of the culture in these modern spaces is a sense of superiority, selfishness, and a desire to be "the best." But is this the way the Church is meant to function? Paul makes the statement, multiple times throughout his epistles, that we are to live in such a way that we bestow excessive...

What do we do when the tiger gets in? Resisting temptation is often approached from the perspective of formulas and three step processes but what if there’s something deeper? What if we can not only resist temptation but can find rest for our souls in the midst of it? What if resisting temptation boils down to something as simple as trust?

Last week we examined a broad overview of temptation to start our series, but tonight we begin looking deeper at the nature of temptation. We start with how temptation enters our lives.

What is the nature of temptation? How are we most often tempted? Why is it so easy for us to step into temptation? To begin talking about how we deal with temptation we need to get a grasp on how temptation is so pervasive in our lives. We know we shouldn't do certain things and yet it always finds a way to seep into the fabric of our lives to destructive effect. Before the war begins, we need a p...

The second message from Fall Retreat 23 around Romans 12:1-2 and the nature of sacrifice.

Message one from Fall Retreat 2023 from 2 Chronicles 33:21-34:7.

How do we rationalize the image of God having value with a world so full of violence and destruction? When we pull up news articles, social media feeds, or turn on the tv we’re consistently confronted with a world saturated in violence. How did we get here? How do we resist apathy on one hand and skepticism on the other? If we’re going to live as faithful image bearers we have to reclaim a vision...

Not every image looks the same... We have to acknowledge the difference in God's image. God doesn't paint in only one color but rather chooses to show His image through a diversity of colors and ethnicities and cultures. Our image-ness gets distorted when we begin to create separations between other image-bearers based off of God's intentional differences.

So what do we do now? We saw in week 1 of the series that the intent of God in creating man in His image is to establish partners or images/idols of Himself throughout the world who will now rule over creation moving it toward the ultimate goal that God has intended it for; a Garden-like city. In the beginning of the story man does just that but then they begin to fail because the idols begin to w...

"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them have dominion..." What does it mean to be made in the image of God? For many people this question has led to a great deal of poor theology and poor Christian practice. Answering this question is incredibly important for us forming our identity and understanding our purpose. It all boils down to how we answer the question, "What is an ima...

"I will be content if I..." Have a big friend group... Get the perfect significant other... Get into the right crowd... Get the biggest platform... The story of significance plays on our desires from Genesis 3. We all want to be the boss, be the best, or replace God. The eternal question is, "Am I what I do or am I something bigger than my success, security or significance?" Ou...

"I will be content if I..." Can travel where I want... Get into the neighborhood I want... Get all the things I want... Have the body I want... Save enough to feel secure... The story of security walks hand in hand with the story of success. "If I accomplish all the things, then I can get all the things." But just like the story of success, the story of security is a black hole. We simply can't fi...

"I will be content if I..." Make the grades... Start on the team... Get into the right school... Get the right job... Accomplish all my goals... The story of success is one of the most alluring we all face. We wall want to gain the approval of people by being seen as a "doer," a "winner," someone who never misses. But the story of success is never done. When is enough, enough? People fall apart wh...

At our last House Night of the year we look back on God’s faithfulness and growth throughout this school year.

Picture this; you walk into the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day to see an absolute FEAST laid before your eyes. Every favorite food, every incredible smell, everything you could ever want in a meal. What do you do in that moment? YOU. FEAST. You don't just eat because the food is there, you feast because there's desire for what's been placed before you. To feast on the things of heaven is to pair DESI...

"I want a deeper experience of Jesus, but..." This is a statement that probably rings true for most followers of Jesus. We want more of His presence but we also find ourselves engulfed in the things of this world that aren't necessarily "evil" but are not lending themselves toward experience of Jesus. What we come to find in this reality is that we will ultimately starve ourselves of things we don...

Tune in to hear the second message of a two-part introduction to our final series of the semester, Feast or Famine, from one of our middle school guy leaders and interns Joseph Hernandez.

Tune in to hear the first message of a two-part introduction to our final series of the semester, Feast or Famine, from one of our high school guy leaders Zack Naessig.

Listen in as our Student Ministry Associate AnnaKate Potter delivers a message on the nature of devoted discipleship as seen in the life of Mary of Bethany. The teaching texts are from Luke 10 and 11 and John 12.

Enjoy this standalone message from Ridgedale’s College and Teaching Pastor Alan Denton on the life of John Mark!