Ridge Life Podcast

We're wrapping up the these last few parables that our Lord gives concerning when he will return. As he has been teaching us, we don't know when he will return as it will come unexpectedly, and suddenly. The Lord has been giving us these parables to illustrate these important truths. As we are waiting the true servants need to be serving. In Matthew 25 we learn about the parable of the talents and...

Our Lord calls for us to be prepared. Constantly. Here in Chapter 25 he reinforces it by teaching two parables: The parable of the virgins in verses 1-13 and the parable of the talents in verses 14-30. Jesus want's us to understand very clearly that we need to be ready. We need to be prepared and we do that by making the most of the opportunities the Lord gives us.

As we have been going through the teaching of our Lord about His second coming in Matthew 24, we now turn to Matthew 25 and our Lord has been instructing us with parables, stories if you will about when His second coming will be. Of course no one knows the exact time, even Jesus himself does not know, but he has stressed over and over 4 times that He is coming and we need to be prepared. In Matthe...

As we have been studying the second coming of Christ, our Lord is stressing the point that he is coming. So we need to be ready, be prepared, be watchful, and alert. He is coming. In this last few verses of Matthew our Lord gives another parable to stress his coming and when he comes he will be looking for the wise and faithful servant. What does it mean to be wise and faithful and how does this r...

In this text in Luke its known as Maryʼs hymn of praise. It’s a song that Mary sang in response to Elizabethʼs recognition through the Holy Spirit that Mary was expecting the promised Messiah. In this praise song, Mary Praises God for His great mercy, but also for His righteous judgment. In this portion of Scripture we can understand how Mary made room in her heart for Christ and hopefully we too...

Ready or not, here I come! The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be unexpected and come swiftly without warning. Jesus in his Olivet Discourse gives some more details about His coming. In the verses to follow in vs 36-44 in Matthew 24 our Lord gives two examples of His coming. First he reminds us of how the judgement of God came upon those who perished by the flood, and also gives us ano...

The hope of every Christian is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. After Christ has just taught about His return to the disciples, he then begins to give a series of several parables to help illustrate the truths. The first parable he gives is about the fig tree. What awesome truths can we learn from this? How will this help us to be prepared for Christ's return?

So Jesus has explained to his disciples the birth pains, the sign of the abomination of desolation and the times of tribulation. We now come to verses 29-31 and we see Jesus coming in the clouds with "power and great glory" and His elect will be gathered with a loud trumpet call. In these few verses we can get a few ideas of what the coming of Christ will look like. The important thing to remember...

What are you thankful for? As Thanksgiving is approaching us we often ask this question. Ultimately all of our thankfulness should be summed up in Christ. When we think of Christ's Words here in Matthew 24 these are going to be troubling times, how can the generation that will be living during that time be thankful? As believers we should be looking forward to Christ's second coming. During the tr...

So we finally come now to the key triggering event that is going to set everything in motion that is called the "Great Tribulation". Matthew 24:15 is a key verse that ties the birth pains in vs 4-14 in with what will happen in the great tribulation in vs 15-31. What is this abomination of desolation? How will all this take place? How does knowing about these events help us as believers now? How ca...

This is the last indicator that our Lord gives before the end will come. According to Matthew 24:14 the last indicator will be a world wide proclamation of the Gospel to every nation. How does a Christian's life play into this truth? What is the responsibility that Christians should have in proclaiming the Gospel now?

With as many of the indicators that our Lord gives us in Matthew 24 about the end of the age, we still are not at the end yet. So far we have covered 3 of the 6 indicators, these are the mass deception, wars and rumors of wars, and famines, earthquakes, pestilence, signs, and terrors. We still have 3 more to cover.

Famines, earthquakes, terrors, pestilence, and signs...oh my! These are the next events that happen that signals the end of the age. Jesus gives us some very specific details about it and His second coming. As we have been dissecting the Olivet Discourse as found in Matthew 24-25 we have seen some interesting and wild events that will take place. What assurance does this bring to those who confess...

As we continue to study our Lord's sermon about His second coming He gives us some very specific details and indicators about the end. In vs 6-14 Jesus tells us about all these events that are going to happen but "the end is not yet" How will knowing about these events prepare us?

Are we living in the last days? When we look not only at the state of our country but the world as a whole, we can definitely see evil, sin and corruption on the rise, but does this mean that we are approaching the end of the age? When will the end of the age be? How will we know that we're close. Jesus gives us the answers to those questions in his sermon found in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew...

This is our first message out of our new series entitled "Be Prepared" We will take a journey through Matthew 24-25 over the next couple of months and discover some fascinating realities about Christ's coming and the end of the age.

Up to this point, Ephesians has not been a very personal letter. Perhaps this was because Paul intended for it to be circulated among several of the churches in Asia Minor. But now, this brief conclusion oozes with his evident care for these Christians. What do we learn from this last few verses? We learn the importance of the church and the care that should be evidenced among the believers.

Enjoy this message from one of our Elders

We come to the crowning jewell of this text about our spiritual warfare. Paul tells us exactly how we fight… It’s no surprise that how we fight is through prayer. Paul says we fight spiritual battles through spiritual prayer. What does it mean to pray in the Spirt? How do we use prayer to fight in the spiritual battles?

Do you know how to use a sword? As we come to the 6th piece of armor for the believer, this is the only piece of armor that is both offensive and defensive. While the other pieces of armor that we have considered were necessary to protect the soldier from the enemy’s attacks, they could not kill the enemy. Only the sword can do that.

The helmet is essential because it protects the head. Without the helmet we go unprotected in enemy territory. Have you ever thought of why what you think about is so important? As one person said it “Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions; watch your actions, they become habits; watch your habits, they become character; watch your character, for it becomes y...

One of the ways the enemy shoots his arrows at the believer is through conflict and offenses. When someone mistreats or opposes us, our instinctive reaction is to justify ourselves and do everything we can to get our way, before we know it, believers are holding grudges, refusing to fellowship, and allowing bitterness to take hold of their life all because we refuse to resolve conflict and offense...

One of the darts that the believer is often confronted with is the fiery dart of anger. Anger, in and of itself is not sinful. Anger is very necessary and a useful reaction as a communication of feeling in reaction to another's behavior. Anger however can become sinful when we either vent or internalize it. We either blow up at someone often using damaging words or actions, or we clam up and hold...

Is there any hope for the sexually immoral? Christians who battle against the fiery darts of sexual temptation such as pornography, SSA (Same Sex Attraction) homosexuality, lust, adultery, fornication etc can quench these fiery darts of the spiritual enemy. How? Through faith!

Throughout God's Word we are commanded to fear and not to fear. Our goal as Christians is not to become fearless. When we talk about overcoming fear and quenching these fiery darts of fear we’re not talking about eliminating all fear. It’s not good to be completely fearless. God gave us the emotion of fear for a specific reason. There are times when we should fear, and there are things we should f...