How Do I Know If I Worship an Idol?

Last year my daughter got married.  It was a great day.  She went to Planet Fitness and met a High School friend, and they began to talk.  Very quickly, they fell in love, and I got the phone call asking if we could meet for permission to marry her.  She got married, moved out of my house, and started a new life with her husband.  Now she and her husband are taking on life together.  They work on . . . Read More »

How Do I Know I Will Be In Heaven?

How are you doing with the series we are in?  It’s pretty aggressive.  It’s called ‘Real Faith Disrupts.’  The scripture we keep turning to is from Jesus’ brother James. James 1:17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless… 19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! . . . Read More »

Who Owns You?

Welcome to the new year.  Not sure if you have any New Year’s resolutions.  If you have made some, I’d be curious to know what they are.  As we kick off this new year, we wanted to kick off a new series called ‘Real Faith Disrupts’.  The foundational scripture we want to use in this series is from James.  I shared it with you last week. James 1:17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good . . . Read More »

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Today ends our series called ‘All I Want for Christmas’. I want you to think about the gifts that Jesus came to give us.  Hope, Peace, Joy, Grace, Salvation, and the Holy Spirit.  I want you to think through this question, ‘Why did Jesus come to give me these gifts?’  There are two answers.  The first answer is that Jesus wants you to experience each gift.  These gifts can be a reality in our lives and they can . . . Read More »

The Gift of Grace

Welcome to the Christmas series called, ‘All I Want for Christmas’.  We want you to make the connection that in Jesus, we find everything our souls are looking for.  Hope, Peace, Joy, Grace, Salvation, and the Holy Spirit.  That makes Jesus the greatest gift. The challenge we have when talking about these gifts is that life comes against us pretty hard.  And when life is rough, it seems impossible to experience those gifts.  And that’s why we are . . . Read More »

The Gift of Peace

This Christmas we want you to make the connection.  The connection is that in Jesus we find everything our souls are looking for.  That’s why Jesus is the greatest gift.  Because in Jesus we find hope, peace, joy, grace, salvation, and the Holy Spirit.  Sam opened the series last week and helped us understand how to live with hope.  He gave us a verse that was ferocious. Job 8:11 Those who forget God have no hope. TLB We . . . Read More »

The One Critical Skill We Need In Our Relationships

The first part in our Journey to Freedom and Courage series dealt with soul issues.  Then we made a shift into relationships.  Sam opened this up with the talk about how we love.  Remember what he said was required?  We have to do the hard things and create space in our lives to be able to love.  Sam explained that if we do the hard things today, life is easier tomorrow.  If we just do what is easy, . . . Read More »

The Toxic Thing In Relationships

Today we continue to talk about relationships. Before we jump into today, I want us to take a second, pull back to see the big picture.  We created Mountain Ridge Church to be the church that is passionate, relentless, and unapologetic about reaching people far from God.  Why would we do that?  Why would we create a place that isn’t about our comfort but instead is a place that focuses on others?  Because we wanted to join Jesus . . . Read More »

Why Is Prayer a Struggle?

I’m so glad to be here and talk about prayer today.  Here’s why.  I’ve never been the ‘prayer guy.’  That may sound surprising because I am a pastor, but it’s true.  I do pray for sure, and prayer is very important to me, but I’m not the guy who sees dreams and visions of the future.  I’m not the guy who spends three hours a day in prayer.  In fact, prayer is something that I’ve struggled with.  So, . . . Read More »

What Is God Doing When Life Is Rough?

Welcome to our series called The Journey to Freedom and Courage.  Before we move on, I want to stop and define that.  What do we mean when we say Freedom and Courage?  Have you ever spent time with a young child?  Maybe around two or three years old?  One of my favorite memories of having three little girls was taking them out to breakfast.  We would give mom time to sleep in, jump into the van, eat breakfast, . . . Read More »