Cross Section from the Summit View Church of Christ

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — In three consecutive teachings, Jesus teaches his followers that mere adherence to the rules or to cultural expectations is not what God desires most. Rather, God's rules are intended to guide his people into understanding of his deeper will for us, so that we live beyond the rules, doing what is right out of genuine love for God. Text: Mark 10:1-31

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — When Jesus' disciples again did not understand his prophecy of his suffering and death, and when they demonstrated their failure to understand through a prideful attitude, Jesus taught them more about what it means to follow him. To be the first, one must become the last and the servant of all. Those who do not oppose us are for us, and we ought to welcome the...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Jesus and his disciples lived in two realms simultaneously: in heavenly glory, filled with the presence and power of God, and in earthly reality, where sin mars life and troubles abound. In the struggles of Jesus' disciples to dwell in both realms at once, and in Jesus' faithfulness in doing so, we learn how we, too, should live in the present world with all its d...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — In a story of Jesus healing a blind man, Mark presents us with a conundrum: Why did Jesus' first attempt to heal the man result in an incomplete healing? The teachings that follow present a second riddle: Why would Jesus the Messiah have to suffer and die? With these questions, Mark begins to open our eyes to see not only who Jesus is, but the beginning of what it...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — In the bright and glorious story of the birth of Jesus come moments of darkness: moments of shame, disappointment, sorrow, cruelty, and tragedy. Yet those dark moments are not able to overwhelm the wonder of the work God was beginning to do through his Son, our Savior. God took those dark moments and transformed them, redeemed them, so that they served his good pu...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod," Jesus told his disciples. But what did he mean? They thought—wrongly—that he was talking about bread. But he was teaching them to think in a manner different from the rest of the world and more like God. He teaches us to do the same. Text: Mark 7:1 to 8:21

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Two amazing miracles revealed more about who Jesus is—but would his disciples understand that he was more than a new Moses, more than a prophet greater than Elisha? Jesus, the Son of God, made the impossible possible by the power of his mere word—and he still does the same in our lives today. Text: Mark 6:30-56

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Jesus was popular and surrounded by crowds everywhere—except in his own hometown. There he was rejected and could not do much effective ministry. His twelve apostles, sent out to many towns, were successful in their work, but Jesus anticipated that some towns would reject them. John the Baptist, prophet and ally of Jesus, was arrested and later executed by a ruler...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — In four consecutive stories Mark shows us the power of Jesus: power over nature, over demons, over disease, and even over death! He also shows us human fear—sometimes before people encountered Jesus, and sometimes because they encountered Jesus. These stories call us to consider how we, too, deal with our fears—especially in light of Jesus' power and compassion, w...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Why did Jesus so often teach by speaking in parables? His parable of the seeds and soils gives us a hint. Sometimes the truth is hard to receive when given directly; but parables speak indirectly, sparking the mind to search for the parable's meaning, opening the mind to new perspectives. Some listeners probably did not care to investigate Jesus' parables beyond t...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Demons come up frequently in this text. They serve as a window to help us and the people who encountered Jesus see his awesome power and hints of his true identity. The demons knew exactly who Jesus was. Some religious leaders, though, thought he himself was possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Crowds flocked to Jesus, but did they really understand his t...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Six times in six consecutive stories, Jesus does the right thing—but does it in the wrong way, at least in some people's opinions. He didn't have to do the wrong parts of the right things—healing on the Sabbath, claiming to forgive sin, eating with sinners and tax collectors. So why did he do such things? He did them because they were right and because of who he i...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Opening his story of Jesus, Mark tells about the amazing events that surrounded the start of Jesus' ministry: the prophecy-fulfilling work of John the Baptist, the voice of God himself speaking, Jesus drawing the attention of Satan himself, an exorcism of a demon who knew who Jesus was, healings—amazing events that remind us how quickly, how immediately, Jesus cha...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Many people, even in ancient Israel, have worshiped idols intentionally, leading themselves away from God into sin and destructive living. But sometimes even we who love God and want to worship him alone find hidden idols in our lives, things we worship unintentionally—the way John began to worship an angel (twice!) in the book of Revelation. We need to beware of...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — God created human beings in his image to rule over life on earth, but our earliest ancestors—and we too—turned away from that identity to create our own self-identities, whatever we wanted to be. But in pursuing the idol of self-identity, we lost the glorious identity God gave to all his children, substituting it for lesser identities that could never bring true f...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — God loves to grant the dreams of his children. Yet for many years, he declined to grant Abraham and Sarah's dream: the dream of having a son of their own. At long last, God granted that dream, and their son Isaac was conceived miraculously. Some years later, though, God asked Abraham to give his dream—his son—back to God by offering him as a sacrifice. By this tes...

​ Sunday Sermon by Ryan Ferguson — We all struggle with fear and anxiety at times, and with worry. Fear typically has a specific object and can be helpful to us; anxiety is usually more generalized, and often interferes with our lives. God calls us not to be anxious, but to put our trust in him, even when we are faced with very real fears. When we trust in him, he helps us overcome our anxiety, an...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Jesus encountered two rich men, one after the other. One could not set aside the idol of wealth in his life; the other devoted himself to God over everything else, including his wealth. Jesus warned us that it is very difficult for the rich to enter into the kingdom of God, though even then all things are possible with God. This lesson examines the temptation of w...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Joseph had every right and reason to get revenge against his cruel brothers, and God gave him the power to do so—but Joseph refused to let his own honor become an idol in his life. He devoted himself to God and trusted in God for his honor, and as a result, his broken family was reconciled. We all want and need to be honored; we can trust God to bring us the honor...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Everyone needs to be loved, desired, appreciated. Leah did too—but her husband loved and married her sister! Both women were his wives simultaneously, but Jacob loved Leah's sister Rachel the most. Leah was desperate for her husband's love, and we can understand why; but what she needed more was what she already had, the love of God. God's love for us...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — The Israelites knew better when they crafted a golden calf idol, directly violating the first two of the 10 Commandments spoken only weeks earlier in their hearing by the voice of God himself! So why did they do it? They did it because they were afraid—and in their fear, they looked for their security in something other than the true God. In our quest to keep ours...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — It's a sad story of God's judgment: The last four kings of Judah continued Judah's overall trajectory away from God, their true King. Finally, Judah became so filled with sin and wickedness that God was no longer willing to forgive, and he brought destruction on Judah. Even then, though, God was looking for an opportunity to redeem his people in the fu...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — King Josiah served God from a young age, but when he heard the words of God's law for the first time, he devoted himself and his nation to God all the more. Because he humbled himself and turned to God, God gave Judah one last chance to do right before he brought his judgment upon them. We, too, often need one last chance—and God readily gives it if we humble...

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Our God does amazing things, and when Manasseh, the most wicked king that Judah ever had, repented, God did another amazing thing: He forgave him! The recognition that God could forgive as evil a person as Manasseh gives us hope that God will forgive us, too, as we repent of our sin and turn to him.  Text: 2 Chronicles 33

​ Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — Hezekiah was a man of great faith, yet he, like we do sometimes, faced enormous troubles that threatened to overwhelm him—and not only him, but also Jerusalem and the entire nation of Judah. How did he respond? Hezekiah stumbled a little at first, but later he prayed, then prayed again. And God responded to the king's faith and rescued Jerusalem.  Text: 2 King...