Summit Ridge Sermon Podcast

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  
 
 
 
 

The Book of James: "Pursue One Another"

June 9, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
 
James 5:19-20
Isaiah 53:6
 
3 Causes of Wandering:
 
1) Believing that following Jesus is easy
 
Matthew 7:13-14
 
"Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more.Charles Spurgeon: You cannot be Christ’s servant if you are not willing to follow him, cross and all. What do you crave? A crown? Then it must be a crown of thorns if you are to be like him. Do you want to be lifted up? So you shall, but it will be upon a cross." -Mother Teresa
 
2) Listening to anyone who claims to speak for Christ
 
Matthew 7: 15-23
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
 
3) Believing that words are more important than actions
 
Matthew 7: 24-27
 
 "Faith and works are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God trusts God; and he that trusts God obeys God. He that is without faith is without works; and he that is without works is without faith." -Charles Spurgeon
 
“We are the Bibles the world is reading; We are the creeds the world is needing; We are the sermons the world is heeding.” -Billy Graham
 
(NET)
 

The Book of James: "It's a Team Effort!"

June 2, 2024
Associate Pastor Eric Burch
James 1:2-4 NASB
 
Go to God First
James 5:13 
“James means that there is no time in which God does not invite us to Himself.” -John Calvin
“Our whole life should be so angled towards God that whatever strikes us, whether sorrow or joy, should be deflected upwards at once into His presence.” -Alec Motyer
 
Don’t Go It Alone
James 5:14-15
Acts 20:28 
Matthew 18:19-21
Hebrews 10:35-37 
 
Reconcile Sooner than Later
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. -James 5:16a
Matthew 5:23-24
James 4:1-2 
 
Make Human Effort, expect Supernatural Results
A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much. -James 5:16b
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective -James 5:16b (NIV)
James 5:17-18
 
(NASB)
 

The Book of James: "Living Well with Others, Part 2"

May 26, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
 
James 5:12
 
"Neither can oath nor promise bind any such people to obey and maintain tyrants against God and against his truth known." -John Knox
 
Matthew 5:34-37
 
Leviticus 19:11-12
 
(NET)
 

The Book of James: "Living Well with Others, Part 1"

May 19, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
 
Psalm 133:1
Romans 12:18
 
START waiting
James 5:7-8
James 1:2-4
 
"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."-Leo Tolstoy
"Pampered bodies grow sluggish through sloth; not work but movement and their own weight exhausts them. Prosperity unbruised cannot endure a single blow, but a man who has been at a constant feud with misfortunes acquires skin calloused by suffering; he yields to no evil and even if he stumbles carries the fight on upon his knee." -Seneca 
 
STOP Complaining
James 5:9
 
“The truly patient man neither complains of his hard lot nor desires to be pitied by others. He speaks of his sufferings in a natural, true, and sincere way, without murmuring, complaining, or exaggerating them.” -St. Francis de Sales
 
Psalm 142:2
Psalm 88:15-18
 
STAY the course
James 5:10-11
Hebrews 12:1
 
(NET)
 

The Book of James: "How to Live Rich, Part 2"

May 12, 2024
Associate Pastor Louise Waller
 
James 5:1-6
Why are riches dangerous?
The World’s Lie: Money = Power = Safety
YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS
Matthew 6:33
1 Timothy 6:17-19
Acts 4: 32-35
Seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness
Luke 12:34
Malachi 3:10
 
(NIV)
 

The Book of James: "How to Live Rich, Part 1"

May 5, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
 
"Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast." -Jane Austen
 "The petty man is eager to make boasts, yet desires that others should believe in him. He enthusiastically engages in deception, yet wants others to have affection for him. He conducts himself like an animal, yet wants others to think well of him." -Xun Kuang
 
"It is common for those that are farthest from God, to boast themselves most of their being near to the Church." -Matthew Henry
 
James 4:13-17
 
Ecclesiastes 10:14
 
Jeremiah 9:23-24
 
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
 
 
 

The Book of James: "Trash the Trash Talk!"

April 28, 2024
Lead Pastor Dr. Dan Acker
James 4:11-12
Matthew 5:21-22
Matthew 5:27-30
Matthew 3:31-37
Proverbs 6:16-19
 
Socrates: “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
 
Ephesians 4:29-32
 
Mother Teresa: “These are the few ways we can practice humility: To speak as little as possible of one's self. To mind one's own business. Not to want to manage other people's affairs. To avoid curiosity. To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept insults and injuries. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation. Never to stand on one's dignity. To choose always the hardest.”
 
(NET)