Overcomer

Posted on September 12, 2014 by dkoop

businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-frontWhat problem is threatening to overcome you and take you down? Is it Fear, Failure, Anger, Low Self Esteem, Finances or Temptation?

Here’s an encouraging thought. “If God is for us who can ever be against us? “¹ This means that whatever is against you, whatever is trying to overcome you, get this. God is bigger! God is for you. God says you can overcome.

You may be thinking today that there is no hope for your situation. You may think that you are destined to be beaten down by forces that are stronger than you. You may even think that God is no help because after all, “God is mad at me.” I want you to know this: God is not mad at you, God is for you!

I want to invite you to our new series, Overcomer. Life is a challenge and we must face certain obstacles but we can overcome them with God’s help and God’s people.

Let’s start with fear. Fear is natural. But scientists have discovered that there are only TWO natural fears. Can you guess what they are? I’m going to put out some options for you: Falling, Commitment, Justin Beiber, Loud Noises, Spiders? The two natural fears that you are born with given by God are falling and loud noises. Whatever else you are afraid of you have learned to be afraid of. The good news is this: if you’ve learned to be afraid, you can also unlearn to be afraid. So we’ll look at how to Overcome Fear.

Failure, every one of us will fail, multiple times. And if we aren’t prepared, when failure takes us down, it can keep us down… which brings discouragement, despair, depression, doubt, and even disillusionment.  I see that over and over in people. We can’t stop failure from coming, but with God’s help we can grow through the failure. In God’s eyes, failure is not final. Failure can be a new starting point.

Financial problems are affecting many people today. Studies show that the majority of divorces are due to money problems. The credit card debt that the average person carries keeps getting higher each year. Many people feel hopeless. I want you to know this doesn’t have to be you. Your marriage does not have to end in divorce because of money. You do not have to constantly lose sleep because of your finances. You don’t have to live with the uncertainty about the future. There is a better way to live, and that’s to live God’s way. At the Ridge we have several Growth Groups which include classes that address your financial problems. We have a CPA that will do a one day seminar on budgeting and getting out of debt. We have financial counselors that will sit down with you and help you. With God’s help, you can overcome your financial problems.

We’ll also look at Overcoming a Low Self Esteem. You are not who others say you are, you are who God says you are. We will show you how you can learn to see yourself as God sees you and that will change everything.

If you have Doubt, it’s also normal and part of trying to live with faith. We will address ways to overcome doubt when it creeps into our lives.

Temptation and Anger, both are natural and not wrong. It’s what we do with our anger and temptations that matter. In our series, we’ll learn to control and overcome anger and temptation.

Got Shame? Others use it on us and we then wear it like a badge, and what’s worse we begin to use shame on our selves.  We’ll learn to stop the shame game in this series.

So which one of these do you need to overcome? Shame, Low Self Esteem, Finances, Doubt, Fear, Temptation, Pride or Anger? You can overcome each one with God’s help.

One last encouraging thought from God,
In ALL these things we have complete victory through Him who loved us!²

I hope you can join us and learn to be an Overcomer.

Darrell
http://www.RidgeFellowship.com

1 Romans 8:31 (NIV)
2 Romans 8:37 (GNB)

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The Church is…

Posted on August 4, 2014 by dkoop

As a member of Christ’s church you are part of a worldwide movement!  We had several people ask to see this video again after the Sunday services.   Enjoy & join the revolution!

www.RidgeFellowship.com

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Living What I Believe

Posted on July 19, 2014 by dkoop

Living What I BeliveDo you know what you believe?  In our upcoming series, we are going to study the foundations of the Christian faith. The idea in this series is to help you solidify your beliefs.  A lot of people may able to state that they believe but they really don’t know why they believe or why it’s important.

We will be teaching theology at the Ridge.  During this series we are going to go deeper than we have ever gone on some theological topics.  For example, when we look at “Living with God as Father” we are going to take a theological moment and we are going to study the word “Abba”.  This is a word that Jesus used to describe the relationship with God as Father.  When we look at “Living with Jesus as Savior” we are going to talk about “Who is Jesus?  What does his life, death and resurrection mean?  What does “Messiah” and savior really mean?”  And you may have heard the word Messiah or savior used over and over.  We are going to take time to drill down on what that means.  When we look at the Living with the Holy Spirit, we are going to talk about “Pnuma” and when we talk about God’s people, we are going to look at the word “Ecclesia” which is a teaching around the church.  In discussing eternity, we are going to talk about the Biblical understanding of “Zoe” life or eternal life.  So these theological moments each week during the service are going to be followed up by some next steps. We are also going to discover the life-changing difference it makes when you understand the Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The life-changing difference it makes when you understand that you were created for a spiritual family and to be with God’s people.  We are also going to talk about the life-changing difference it makes to live with eternity in mind and have the security of eternal life.

In each of these upcoming messages, we hope to instruct you, theologically.  We also hope to inspire you.  But more importantly, we hope to give you some practical ways to better live out your faith.  Then we hope that you won’t just let this series stop when the service ends on a Sunday morning.  We want to challenge you to let this series breath down into your life during the week and as you live life daily.

Now if you are a Christ follower, this series is going to challenge you to go deeper than ever before in your faith.  We are going to try to grow your theological understanding and also give you practical ways to live out your faith in a way that makes a difference in your life, your family and in our community.  But if you are not yet a Christ follower, then this series is going to show you full-frontal Christianity.  You will discover firsthand what it is that Christ followers believe.  No punches pulled.  During the series, you will have the opportunity to decide for yourself, if you want to follow Christ and His teachings because you will know what it is all about.

What you believe is important.  What you believe will determine your life, your perspective, your behavior and relationships, even your eternity.  I hope you will join us for Living what I Believe.

Darrell

For more information about go to www.RidgeFellowship.com

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A Better Life

Posted on June 15, 2014 by dkoop

A Better Life Poster_ copyFar beyond what is necessary.  That is the word Jesus uses to describe the life he can give us..

10 …I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.  John 10:10 Msg.

The Greek word, Perissos  translated (better, fullness or abundance) describes something that goes far beyond what is necessary.

Jesus promised to provide abundant, or full life to his people. An image that comes to mind is the cup described in Psalm 23:5, that is “filled to overflowing” by the Shepherd who is the Lord. Abundance of life points to depth of living now and length of living in eternity.

It is not only life as good as it can be, but also life beyond what we can imagine!

Author CS Lewis describes the life Jesus offers in this way, “All joy (as distinct from mere pleasure) emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings and wantings.”

Be careful, it is clearly not, a life that denies problems and pain. Rather, it is a life that faces them and makes use of them. Instead of letting us focus on the ups and downs of life, Jesus takes us deep into life itself, where there is a calm center even in the storm.

Later Jesus told his disciples, “In this world you will have trouble” John 16:33 niv.  This should remove any last hopes that he was leading his followers into a life of guaranteed earthly happiness and prosperity. Even the beautiful pastoral scene Jesus described in this chapter (John 10) does not allow us to forget the danger of thieves, the presence of death, and the daily hardships of coming in and going out. This reality is also true in the 23rd Psalm mentioned earlier.  “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me.”  (Psalm 23:4)

Do you want a better life?  For living day to day Jesus offers fullness, in troubles Jesus promises his presence, in death he gives us eternal life.  Why settle? Live a better life.

Join us this Sunday as begin our new series, A Better Life.

www.RidgeFellowship.com

 

Sources:

Life Application Bible Commentary
MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The – MacArthur New Testament Commentary
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