The Summit Church

One aspect of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount that is particularly challenging is how he addresses not merely sinful behaviors but also sinful thoughts and desires—and when it comes to issues like lust and sex? Jesus doesn’t shy away from them. In this week’s message from Matthew 5, Pastor Curtis unpacks commonly held views of sex and explains how to confront distortions of God’s design. In the end, our only hope is a new heart—and that’s exactly what Jesus gives us when we place our trust in him.

It’s entirely possible to build a life around the type of righteousness that is staged rather than genuine—and many people around us may be none the wiser. But the righteousness that Jesus desires for us is radical: not new rules, but a new heart. In this week’s message from Matthew 5, Pastor J.D. takes us through the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, explaining how Jesus is the new and better Moses, bringing the kind of transformation that laws and rules alone never could. Jesus isn’t looking for those who are content with merely restraining their behavior, as the Pharisees attempted to do. He’s looking for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, because they are the ones who will truly be satisfied.

We normally think of indicator lights as a way of communicating that something is wrong (think: the dreaded “check engine” light on your dashboard). But in Jesus’ revolutionary Sermon on the Mount, he presents a series of indicator lights—more commonly known as the Beatitudes—that help us know whether the kingdom of heaven has gotten into us. In this week’s message from Matthew 5:1–16, Pastor Bryan helps us see these countercultural teachings of Jesus for what they really are: not things we do to earn our way into the kingdom but signs that we are people who have truly come to the end of ourselves, desperate for God and hungry for righteousness.

This week, Pastor John takes us through Acts 2:42–47 as we look deeper into the five identities of a disciple: worshiper, family member, servant, steward, witness. Ultimately, disciples of Jesus don't just believe differently—they live differently.

In chapter after chapter of Ecclesiastes, we're given principles for how to live wisely in a world of hevel. But these principles aren't meant to merely help us "survive" life in this broken world—ultimately, they're preparation for a day we will all face: the day when we stand before God. In this week's message from Ecclesiastes 10–12, Pastor J.D. encourages us not to dread this day but to anticipate the beauty of what it actually means: the end of all pain and futility, and the most glorious reunion with our great Savior.

It seems more than just counterintuitive to say that “the day of death is better than the day of birth.” After all, who in their right mind would rather attend a funeral than a birthday party? But this is exactly the kind of view that Solomon advocates, because it’s only by thinking about life from the perspective of our death that we learn to live wisely. In this week’s message from Ecclesiastes 7, Pastor J.D. reminds us how, in light of how short our lives are, it makes no sense to chase after what is fleeting. Instead, we should leverage our lives to invest in what will serve to advance God’s kingdom long after we’re gone.

Though we don't always view it this way (perhaps even less so on a Monday morning), work is a gift from God. But what happens when work becomes an end in itself, centering on our accomplishments and tempting us to neglect the very relationships we should be pouring into? At that point, Solomon says, it's all meaningless—a chasing after the wind. In this week's message from Ecclesiastes 4–5, Pastor Bryan helps us reframe our work as something that is most meaningful when it goes beyond ourselves, reaching out to ease the plight of the oppressed and reaching up to connect with God.

“For everything there is a season …” You might recognize these words (“turn, turn, turn”) as lyrics to a song made popular in the ’60s. But thousands of years before that, they were written as the opening of a poem in the book of Ecclesiastes about the cyclical nature of life. Just as we have no control over summer turning to fall, we can't alter the cycles of life. There is indeed a time to be born and a time to die, a time to laugh and a time to weep. In this week's message from Ecclesiastes 3, Pastor J.D. gives us helpful principles for not only navigating life in a world we can't control, but enjoying it for what it is: a gift from God.

The book of Ecclesiastes is often regarded as one of the most confusing (and perhaps depressing) books in the entire Bible. But the truth is, it’s one that raises—and provides real answers to—some of the core questions of life. In this week’s message from Ecclesiastes 1, Pastor J.D. addresses three common approaches that the world takes to finding meaning in life. These approaches, it’s no surprise, come up short time and time again. And that’s because the only satisfying answer for “life under the sun” is actually to embrace life above the sun—that is, life with God, the only one who truly imbues our lives with meaning.

Upon reading example after disastrous example from Israel's history, it's tempting to just give up and throw in the towel. After all, if these previous generations weren't able to avoid stumbling and falling, what hope is there for us? In this week's message from the last six verses of Jude, Pastor J.D. shows us that the answer is found in one action: to keep ourselves in the love of God. But it doesn't end there. Because the Christian life is meant to be lived in community, we also have a responsibility to help others who are struggling—even at the expense of our own comfort.