Summit Ridge Sermon Podcast

This is Church; "How God Builds His Church: In Reality"

August 18, 2024
Associate Pastor Justin Brunenkant
 
Colossians 2:20-23
Matthew 19:14
2 Corinthians 5:17
Matthew 5:17
 
(NKJV)

The is Church: "How God Builds His Church: In Worship"

August 11, 2024
Associate Pastor Eric Burch
Ephesians 4:4-6 NET
 
We have been Freed from the Law
Colossians 2:16
Mark 7:18-19
Romans 7:4-6 
 
We are a Priesthood in Christ 
Colossians 2:17 
1 Peter 2:9-10
Romans 10:1-3 
 
So, Serve in All Humility
Colossians 2:18
Proverbs 16:18-19
Colossians 3:16
John 3:11-12
 
For Your Sake and the Sake of the Body
Colossians 2:19
Revelation 2:13-16
Romans 12:3-5
 
We have been freed from the law and we now belong to the priesthood of Christ so serve in all humility for your sake and the sake of the body.
 
 

This is Church: "How God Builds His Church: The Cross"

August 4, 2024
Associate Pastor Eric Burch
 
As You Received, So Live
Colossians 2:6-7
Colossians 2:5
Ephesians 4:4-6
Ephesians 4:13-14
 
Guard Your Mind and Heart
Colossians 2:8
Romans 12:2
Proverbs 3:5-6
 
Accept the Fullness of Christ
Colossians 2:9-10
Colossians 1:27-28
 
Enjoy the Fellowship of Christ
Colossians 2:11-12
John 15:4-5
 
Celebrate Your Freedom Through Christ and the Cross
Colossians 2:13
Colossians 2:14-15
Romans 6:21–23
 
(NET)

This is Church: "How God Builds His Church: in Ministry"

July 28, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
"Ministry is giving when you feel like keeping, praying for others when you need to be prayed for, feeding others when your own soul is hungry, living truth before people even when you can't see results, hurting with other people even when your own hurt can't be spoken, keeping your word even when it is not convenient, it is being faithful when your flesh wants to run away." -John Holt
“Ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one’s own search for God, with all the moments of pain and joy, despair and hope, at the disposal of those who want to join this search but do not know how.” -Henri Nouwen
 
“I would like to encourage you to stop thinking of what you're doing as ministry. Start realizing that your ministry is how much of a tip you leave when you eat in a restaurant; when you leave a hotel room whether you leave it all messed up or not; whether you flush your own toilet or not. Your ministry is the way that you love people. And you love people when you write something that is encouraging to them, something challenging. You love people when you call your wife and say, 'I'm going to be late for dinner,' instead of letting her burn the meal. You love people when maybe you cook a meal for your wife sometime, because you know she's really tired. Loving people - being respectful toward them." -Rich Mullens
 
Ministry TRANSFORMS lives
Colossians 1:21-25
Isaiah 53:6
 
“Men will allow God to be everywhere but on his throne. They will allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow his bounties. they will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth." -Charles Spurgeon
 
“What is sin? It is the glory of God not honored. The holiness of God not reverenced.The greatness of God not admired.The power of God not praised.The truth of God not sought.The wisdom of God not esteemed. The beauty of God not treasured. The goodness of God not savored.The faithfulness of God not trusted. The commandments of God not obeyed. The justice of God not respected. The wrath of God not feared. The grace of God not cherished. The presence of God not prized. The person of God not loved. That is sin.” -John Piper
 
God wants everyone to know their lives can be TRANSFORMED
Colossians 1:26-2:5
2 Peter 3:9
 
"We must school and train ourselves to deal personally with the unconverted. We must not excuse ourselves, but force ourselves to the irksome task until it becomes easy." -Charles Spurgeon
“Personal ministry is not about always knowing what to say. It is not about fixing everything in sight that is broken. Personal ministry is about connecting people with Christ so that they are able to think as he would have them think, desire what he says is best, and do what he calls them to do even if their circumstances never get "fixed." It involves exposing hurt, lost, and confused people to God's glory, so that they give up their pursuit of their own glory and live for his.” -Paul David Tripp
“We sinned for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love, and He saved us for no reason but an incomprehensible excess of love.” -Peter Kreeft
 
(NET)
 
 

This is Church: "How God Builds His Church: In Christ"

July 21, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
 
“We cherry-pick our favorite traits and words of Christ and run with them - amplifying some parts while silencing others - to suit our personal visions and preferences. In doing this, rather than the true and the whole, we create caricatures and distortions of His character - false Christs made in our own images - and are left with no mystery as to why He would say we must deny ourselves daily in order to follow Him.” -Criss Jami
 
Matthew 24:3-6
 
Jesus is GOD in the flesh
 
Colossians 1:15
 
“Man's maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.” -St. Augustine of Hippo
“The nativity mystery “conceived from the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary”, means, that God became human, truly human out of his own grace. The miracle of the existence of Jesus , his “climbing down of God” is: Holy Spirit and Virgin Mary! Here is a human being, the Virgin Mary, and as he comes from God, Jesus comes also from this human being. Born of the Virgin Mary means a human origin for God. Jesus Christ is not only truly God, he is human like every one of us. He is human without limitation. He is not only similar to us, he is like us.” -Karl Barth
 
Jesus is the CREATOR of all
 
Colossians 1:16-17
Romans 1:20-23
 
"God is the Creator God, he doesn't want to say, "Okay, creation was very good, but I'm scrapping it." He wants to say, "Creation is so good that I'm going to rescue it." -NT Wright
 
Jesus is LORD
 
Colossians 1:18
Philippians 2:10-11
 
Jesus is SAVIOR
 
Colossians 1:19-20
John 14:6
 
"It is faith that looks up at the creator God and knows him to be the God of love. And it is faith that looks out at the world with the longing to bring that love to bear in healing reconciliation, and hope." -NT Wright
 
2 Corinthians 5:17-18
 

This is Church: "How God Builds His Church: In Wisdom"

July 14, 2021
Associate Pastor Louise Waller
 
What is worldly wisdom?
Wisdom: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and EvilGenesis 3:4-7
We Are Fools
Wisdom is nonsense to those who don’t believe
Isaiah 55:8-91 Corinthians 1:18Matthew 11:25
What is Godly Wisdom?
Colossians 1:9-14James 3:17
How do we get God’s wisdom?
Luke 11:11-13Proverbs 9:10Proverbs 3:5-7James 1:5
 
(NIV)

This is Church: "How God Builds His Church: The Gospel"

July 7, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
 
“The good news is that Christ frees us from the need to obnoxiously focus on our goodness, our commitment, and our correctness. Religious has made us obsessive almost beyond endurance. Jesus invited us to a dance...and we've turned in into a march of soldiers, always checking to see if we're doing it right and are in step and in line with the other soldiers. We know a dance would be more fun, but we believe we must go through hell to get to heaven, so we keep marching.” -Steve Brown
 
Colossians 1:1-8
 
The Gospel inspires FAITH
 
"Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat out denial of the gospel of grace." -Brennan Manning
 
The Gospel inspires LOVE
 
“Some Christians try to go to heaven alone, in solitude. But believers are not compared to bears or lions or other animals that wander alone. Those who belong to Christ are sheep in this respect, that they love to get together. Sheep go in flocks, and so do God’s people.” -Charles Spurgeon
"When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy.” -Corrie Ten Boom
 
The Gospel inspires HOPE
 
“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” -Tim Keller
 
Galatians 5:5-6
Ephesians 4:2-5
1 Thessalonians 1:31 Corinthians 13: 13
 
(NET)
 

3 temptations of the church: "temptation #3: to be powerful"

June 30, 2024
Associate Pastor Eric Burch
(Audio issues during the first two minutes or so.)
 
Matthew 4:8-11
“One of the greatest ironies of the history of Christianity is that its leaders constantly give in to the temptation of power- political power, military power, economic power, or moral or spiritual power – even though they continued to speak in the name of Jesus, who did not cling to divine power but emptied Himself and became as we are.” -Henry Nouwen
 
We want to be God instead of Worshiping God
Genesis 3:5
Mark 10:33-34
Mark 10:35-37
Isaiah 14:12-14 
Phillipians 2:5-9 
 
Power can be used overcome fear
Matthew 2:1-3
1 John 4:17-18
 
Power is easier to wield than love
“It seems easier to be God than to worship God. It is easier to control people than to love people. Easier to own life than to love life.”  -Henry Nouwen
1 John 4:7-8
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
 
(NASB 2020)
 
 

3 temptations of the church: "temptation #2: to be spectacular"

June 23, 2024
Associate Pastor Justin Brunenkant
Matthew 4:5-7
Psalms 91:11-12
Deuteronomy 6:16
Galations 6:7
 
(NKJV)
 
 

3 temptations of the church: "temptation #1: to be relevant"

June 16, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
Not all testing is bad  
 
Matthew 4:1-4
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
 
Testing reveals who you really are
 
Testing prepares you for your life as a Christ-follower. 
 
“We live in a culture that has replaced soul with self. This reduction turns people into either problems or consumers. Insofar as we acquiesce in that replacement, we gradually but surely regress in our identity, for we end up thinking of ourselves and dealing with others in marketplace terms: everyone we meet is either a potential recruit to join our enterprise or a potential consumer for what we are selling; or we ourselves are the potential recruits and consumers. Neither we nor our friends have any dignity just as we are, only in terms of how we or they can be used."  -Eugene Peterson  
 
"By our uncritical pursuit of relevance we have actually courted irrelevance; by our breathless chase after relevance without a matching commitment to faithfulness, we have become not only unfaithful, but irrelevant; by our determined efforts to redefine ourselves in ways that are more compelling to the modern world than are faithful to Christ, we have lost not only our identity but our authority and our relevance. Our crying need is to be faithful as well as relevant." -OS Guinness 
“A primary task of the community of Jesus is to maintain this lifelong cultivation of love in all the messiness of its families, neighborhoods, congregations, and missions. Love is intricate, demanding, glorious, deeply human, and God-honoring, but — and here’s the thing — never a finished product, never an accomplishment, always flawed in some degree or other.” -Eugene Peterson