Summit Life with J.D. Greear

As humans, one of our most basic needs is food—when we don't have it, we experience discomfort, irritability, or even sickness or death. And yet, as unbearable as physical hunger can be, it is our spiritual hunger that we often neglect to address, to our own detriment. As we begin a series looking at the seven "I am" statements made by Jesus in the Gospel of John, this message from Pastor J.D. explores the first of these, from John 6. Jesus' claim to be the "bread of life" is a truth that we so desperately need in a world full of people who seek to satisfy their spiritual hunger with anything but Jesus.

Our emotions function like smoke from a fire—and just like you can follow a trail of smoke to figure out what’s on fire in your house, you can follow the trail of your emotions to figure out what is on fire in your heart. Pastor J.D. concludes with the emotion of shame.

We’re in the final couple of days of our series on difficult emotions titled, “Smoke from a Fire.” Or, to change the analogy—each of these emotions—depression, anxiety, anger, envy, and now “shame”—functions like warning lights on the dashboard of our hearts, indicating what is going on in the engine of our souls.

Sociologists say that envy seems to be a bigger problem for our generation than any before us, because social media seems designed to play on it! But when we look at other people’s lives on social media, we are seeing a filtered image. Pastor J.D. concludes his message on the difficult emotion of envy.

Envy surrounds us—and most of us don’t realize the deadly poison that envy is. We think of envy as a kind of petty jealousy that just comes from wanting a little more.

People seem queued up and ready to be angry—in the classroom, at work, on Twitter, and on the freeway. Pastor J.D. teaches how we can be angry like Jesus.

Remember that one time in the Bible when Jesus got angry? And he didn’t hide it? And he didn’t sin? Pastor J.D. is helping us see how we can be angry like Jesus, too.

When it comes to money, parenting, career, and any of the other litany of things we worry about, God is not telling us to sit back and do nothing. He is saying that we need to do what we can, and trust him with the results.

We worry most about what we are devoted to most. Jesus talks about the difficult emotion of anxiety by first challenging what we are most devoted to.

Whenever we struggle with depression, despair, or doubts about God, we think there’s something wrong with us or maybe we just don’t have enough faith. And it can be difficult to ask for help because we don’t want anyone to see us as broken.

Pastor J.D. shows us that the aim of the Bible’s teaching on emotions isn’t to suppress them or even to manage them, but to read them accurately, express them honestly, and allow the gospel reshape them completely.

Death is never a comfortable subject, but in the back of our minds, we all know that death is eventually coming. So, what happens after?

Heaven is usually portrayed as this ethereal place in the clouds full of harps and chubby cherubim. But, is that really all we have to look forward to in eternity?

As we walk through the book of Revelation, Pastor J.D. explains how God has pulled back the curtain to give us a glimpse of the spiritual reality.

The book of Revelation has generated more curiosity and debate than any other book of the Bible. So, Pastor J.D. is helping us wrap our minds around the main point of this prophetic book.

In our series called, The Whole Story, we’ve been traveling from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how every page is pointing to Jesus and revealing the gospel.

Everyone wants to feel like they’ve succeeded at life. But, what does “success” even mean?

In this message, Pastor J.D. tackles a subject that can be a bit sensitive, but is vital to advancing the gospel.

Tragically, it’s not uncommon to hear speakers and pastors who promise God’s blessing in order to manipulate their audience into giving them money.

When asked about their hopes for the future, 96% of teens in a recent survey said they want to make a difference in the world. Clearly, we all crave a greater purpose and for our lives to leave an impact.