The Summit Church

When we begin following Jesus, we’re much like newborn babies—but just as babies grow and mature, so should we in our walk with Christ. In this week’s message from Philippians 3, Pastor Curtis reveals four marks of maturity in Christ, and—spoiler alert—it begins with being honest enough to admit that we haven’t arrived. It’s only when we’re willing to do this that we can direct our focus toward th...

One of the most important parts of applying for a job is presenting an impressive résumé. After all, your résumé is essentially an argument for why you are the best candidate for a particular job. In this week’s message from Philippians 3, Pastor J.D. takes us through the Apostle Paul’s résumé before he met Jesus. As impressive as it was, Paul counted it as rubbish compared to the joy of knowing J...

It can be easy, particularly in a large church, to slip in and out unnoticed and never truly experience community. But when we do this, we are missing out on how God intended his church to function: as a family. In this week's message from Philippians 2, Pastor Bryan shows us just how vital this sense of community is, and how we each play a role in creating and sustaining it. As Christians, there...

The Apostle Paul’s charge to “work out your own salvation” can, at first glance, seem contradictory to the idea that our salvation is something that can’t be earned. But when we read the rest of the sentence, we see that what Paul is talking about is the process of sanctification, where God continues to work in us throughout our entire lives. In this week’s message from Philippians 2, Pastor Curti...

As Christians, the love that we have received from God is, in the words of hymn writer Frederick Lehman, “greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell.” But God doesn't give us good gifts with the intention that we keep them to ourselves. In this week's message from Philippians 2, Pastor John helps us see that a proper response to God's love and grace is to, well ... do something. What exactly tha...

The book of Philippians is full of paradoxes, one of the most profound being how Paul experiences true freedom even while in chains. His confidence, after all, was never in the possibility of God changing his circumstances, but in God sustaining him no matter what. In this week’s message from Philippians 1, Pastor Curtis reveals three more aspects of “the good life,” a life that makes sense only w...

When we consider some of the great missionaries of the past, whether the Apostle Paul himself or people like Adoniram Judson and William Carey, we often wonder how they endured under such difficult circumstances. Not only that, but how could they possibly be joyful in the midst of these trials? In this week’s message from Philippians 1, Pastor Bryan shows us that what these heroes of the faith had...

You’d think that someone sitting on the cold stone floor of a Roman jail cell would be the least likely to pen a letter overflowing with joy and gratitude—but that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul does with his letter to the church at Philippi. And in this week’s message from Philippians 1, Pastor J.D. explains how gratitude is one of the secrets to the “good life” that Paul illuminates for us. Gra...

We’ve all seen shows or movies with unsatisfying endings—the kind that make us question, “Wait, was that really it?” The last chapter of Nehemiah certainly has the potential to make us feel the same way. But as we’ll see, what initially seems like a terribly unsatisfying ending actually paves the way for the greatest finale of all time. In this week’s message from Nehemiah 10–13, Pastor J.D. shows...

It's one thing to be on the receiving end of gossip or criticism by a coworker or acquaintance, but to be hurt by someone close to us? That's an entirely different kind of pain. And this is precisely why church hurt can cut so deep, because it comes from a completely unexpected place. In this week's message from Psalm 55, Pastor Bryan explores what a godly response to this kind of hurt looks like....

Of all the things required of those who follow Jesus, confession of sin is probably one of the hardest. True confession requires humility and courage—but what enables you to do it is a desperation for the power and presence of God in your life. In this week’s message from Nehemiah 9, Pastor J.D. takes us through the prayer of the Levites, highlighting four crucial elements of confession. Yes, it’s...

This weekend, Pastor Spence Shelton from Mercy Church (Charlotte) shares a message from Jonah 4.

Depending on which generation you're a part of, the word "revival" may conjure up thoughts of planned, week-long events at church featuring fiery sermons and calls for repentance. But as we'll learn, revival isn't something you can simply put on a calendar. In this week's message from Nehemiah 8, Pastor J.D. takes us through five elements of true revival, some of which we can do and others of whic...

Easter is a cause for incredible celebration for many reasons, of course. But one of them is that even as astounding as Jesus' miracles of healing were, ultimately, they were signs that pointed to something greater still. They were mere shadows, and Jesus' resurrection, his resounding victory over sin and death, is the substance. In this weekend's message from John 5, Pastor Bryan shows us the hea...

It's hardly surprising that Nehemiah faced opposition in rebuilding the wall. But what is particularly unsettling is that the most dangerous opposition came not from outside but from inside. In this week's message from Nehemiah 5, Pastor J.D. shows us how compromise on the inside is a far bigger threat to the work of God than critics on the outside. So how can we guard against such a grave threat?...

Every work of God in the world, whether big or small, faces opposition. If we're going to fulfill what God has called us to, persistence may be the most important skill that we can master. In this week's message from Nehemiah 4 and 6, Pastor J.D. not only shows us the different kinds of opposition that Nehemiah faced, but how he responded. A proper response always starts with remembering how God h...

The book of Nehemiah leads us to think a lot about the idea of a calling on our lives. We may think we're too broken or messy to be used by God, but the truth is, broken people are exactly who God longs to use to build his kingdom. In this week's message from Nehemiah 2 and 3, Pastor J.D. explains how everybody has a job to do and a role to play in the restoration that God is bringing. The questio...

In this weekend’s message, Pastor Joby Martin from The Church of Eleven22 walks us through part of 1 Corinthians 16, cautioning us to be watchful.

We've all wondered it: Does God have a special assignment for me, and if so, how do I know if I'm actually accomplishing it? The Bible doesn't record Nehemiah ever receiving a prophetic dream or vision from God, and yet, he has a divinely placed burden that moves him to act. In this week's message from Nehemiah 2, Pastor J.D. shows us how to narrow down what God might be calling us to do for his k...

Time and again, we've seen that God moves through ordinary acts of obedience; we simply have to join him in the work he's already doing. In this week’s message from Acts 8, Pastor John takes us through the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. What set Philip apart as someone used by God? He wasn't an apostle, after all. He wasn't flashy or even particularly impressive. But he was a faithful s...

The Bible is full of stories of God using ordinary people to do amazing things by putting his vision into them, and the book of Nehemiah is no exception. In this week's message from Nehemiah 1, Pastor J.D. gives us helpful principles for discerning God's call on our own lives. The truth is, Nehemiah wasn't someone of particular privilege or position; he had simply heard from God and was burdened t...

Ambition tends to get a bad rap, particularly in Christian circles. Sometimes, that's for good reason. But sometimes, it's simply because we're missing the point: Scripture doesn't call us to kill ambition but to aim it properly. In this week's message from Romans 15, Pastor Curtis shows us how the gospel shapes ambition and ultimately redeems it. When we are secure in our identity in Christ, we w...

You might expect Paul's final instructions to the Corinthian church to be full of eloquent, stirring rhetoric, designed to hype them up as they faced survival in a world hostile to Christ. But what we find in reading his final charge to this congregation is strikingly different. In this week's message from 2 Corinthians 12 and 13, Pastor J.D. shows us how Paul's focus was on calling the church bac...

In Disney’s “Wreck-It Ralph,” a video game character named Vanellope has a frustrating glitch, making her flicker and disappear. It’s a source of shame for the entire movie … until she learns that this “glitch” actually provides her with a power she could never have imagined. Her glitch was actually a feature. In this week’s message from 2 Corinthians 11–12, Pastor J.D. shows us a similar “glitch”...

There are many spiritual battles that we will face in our lives, whether related to our own growth, parenting our children, or seeing someone come to Christ. The problem is that we often try to fight these battles out of our own strength, rather than relying on the power that God supplies. In this week's message from 2 Corinthians 10, Pastor J.D. shows us the importance of being properly equipped...