Life At The Ridge

How does the church mature? Who directs the maturing process of the church? How is God using us to help the church mature?

We continue to look at some basic questions that surround spiritual gifts.

Do you know what a spiritual gift is or what the gifts are? We will be working through this topic over the next few months.

Paul's dialogue with King Agrippa gives about the resurrection gives us some things to think about if the resurrection has made a difference in our lives.

Some details about the Elders in the church. Some basics on how the Eldership should function and look.

Why does Pleasant Ridge have Elders and what is Biblical Eldership?

What is the result of when the body of Christ sees one another? The result will be maturity. The goal we should be striving for is maturity in the body. Paul said it well in Colossians that we labor to present every man mature in Jesus Christ. How can we serve one another so the body matures?

The last few verses in Colossians are a good reminder to us that we are part of the body and called to serve.

Have you ever wondered how you should correct someone in the church that you thought was doing wrong? Is this a task we are supposed to be doing or is it only for the "professionals" that are in charge? What about widows? Is the church obligated to take care of every widow? What about single mothers or women that have been abandoned? How can we effectively correct and care for those in the church family?

How are we to make disciples? How can we declare the mystery of Christ with clarity and compassionately?

Are we living on mission and making disciples as we have been commanded? Paul gives us some helpful advice in how to make disciples in the natural rhythms of life.

Are we devoted to prayer? Have we been partnering with God through prayer to see His kingdom come and His will be done? In these last few verses out of chapter 4 Paul has some really good instructions and encouragement for us.

Are you a living example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity? Paul's command to Timothy was he was to be a living example of those things to those whom he was teaching. Whose example are you following? Are you being a good example of those things to others? Why are we to be an example of those things? Allan brought the Word to us this Sunday out of I Timothy 4:12-16.

Are you in what seems like a dead end job? Does your boss not treat you fairly? Is it possible to glorify Christ where you work? How? Even if you are in what seems like a horrible job? Paul gives instructions to slaves and masters (Col 3:22-4:1) in how they are to conduct themselves towards each other despite their situations and be a living testimony of how the Gospel has changed their lives.

It was a joy to have Jeff Fater from RETA to bring us some thoughts from God's Word about Jesus being pro life.

Does God's Word promote slavery? Is God OK with slavery and people having slaves? What was the purpose of slavery?

Pauls instructions to Timothy was to labor for godliness or to be Christlike. Are we laboring for Christlikeness?

The message from the book of Micha gives us a different perspective of the ruler that would come from the little town of Bethlehem.

Isaiah 60 gives us a tremendous prophecy about the coming of Christ and His kingdom. Not only does this prophecy tell us about His second coming but it also hints to His first coming.

God has specific instructions for children and fathers. If we desire a Christlike home then each member of the family needs to follow the commands that ate outlined in Scripture.