Life At The Ridge

The Elders did a live Q&A and answered any questions about God's will.

We have spent the past 3 months going through all the areas where God tells us plainly what His will is for our lives: It has covered everything from His will for us to be saved, how we are to live, and how to handle certain situations in life. These things are what we call God’s revealed will. What about the things that aren’t revealed? How can we know what God’s will is for our life when it comes to decisions we have to make? How will we know if we are making the right decision? This is what we called God’s hidden will. It’s hidden because it’s not revealed to us in Scripture. God's Word gives us some specific principles that will help us to know what His will is for our lives in specific situations.

Jesus gives a sign to the religious leaders of His day about who He is. This sign is the one, if we don't believe it no other sign would ever suffice.

God's will is that we experience and know of all the blessings we have in Christ.

In Ephesians 5:16-18, in these three short verses God reveals His will for our lives. It has to do with Time. What we do with it, how we use it in connection with how a Christian lives their life.

In this prayer in Colossians 1 Paul tells these believers and us what God’s will is. Notice what Paul says here in Vs 9 “be filled with the knowledge of His will” So it is God’s desire that we are filled with the knowledge of His will. What is His will for our life? To live a life that is pleasing to God. What does a life that is pleasing to God look like? Paul gives us four things.

In Hebrews the writer is telling us about our sanctification as it pertains to our salvation and what God did through the body of Jesus. God is communicating to us that it is His will that we have been sanctified, been made holy, and He is sanctifying us, making us holy. It has happened and is happening through the body of Jesus. This is important to understand because our sanctification or our holiness is not because of something that we do or don’t do, If we’re not careful we can treat our sanctification like a product and remove the importance of the body of Jesus.

What do we learn about compassion from Jesus' miracle of feeding the 4,000?

How do you react when you are wronged? Is how you respond biblical? What iOS God's will for our life in how we respond to those who harm us?

How should a Christian handle injustice and suffering on the job? Peter gives some very specific details about God's will for the believer in how they should live and face injustice and suffering.

God's will for our lives is to abstain from sexual immorality. In order of us to be complete and mature in Christ, we must follow and obey God's Word in every area of our life.

Chapter 7 concludes with Jesus healing a deaf and mute man. Mark is the only Gospel account that covers this event in detail. The way Jesus heard the man was totally unique. What do we learn about Jesus in this healing?

What is the will of God for the believer in relation to our government? How should a believer respond to government? God tells us that the will of God is to do good.

In I Thessalonians God gives us three simple commands to follow in order to do the will of God. These things are simple, but difficult.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know the things that are mysterious and hidden from our lives? Unfortunately many of those things are secluded in secrecy from us. God knows everything and plans everything, and yet He has chosen to keep certain things hidden from us. We also find though there are certain places where God tells us specifically what His will is for our life. In John 6, He tells us what His will is.

Jesus encounters a Syrophoenician woman who desperately needs her daughter healed from a demon. He faith is great and Jesus grants her request.

We now come to our last song that is sung by an aged man who not only holds Jesus in his arms but also sees him with his eyes. It is titled Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis. That phrase means “Now let depart”

This second song is Zechariah’s Benedictus that’s a latin word that means blessed. It’s named this because of the first word in Zachariah’s praise. “Blessed” For 9 months Zechariah has been unable to speak because he asked for a sign from the angel about the birth of his son John the baptist. After his son is presented at the temple, he names him John and Zechariah begins to praise God.

For the month of December we will be looking at some specific songs of praise found in Lukes Gospel. These are the very first hymns of praise found in the NT. There are a total of 4 songs of praise that are sung by three individuals and angels that were woven throughout the time of Jesus’ birth. The Lyrics in these songs are unique expressions of love for the Savior, and God’s marvelous provision of salvation He has given to us. The very first one we find is Mary’s Song. It’s been called Mary’s Magnificat. It’s a hymn about what God has done in keeping His faithful covenant to His people and bringing a messiah a savior which is Christ the Lord.

Jesus encounters the Pharisees her in this passage and Jesus has to teach them about the importance of the heart and where real uncleanliness comes from.