St Marcus MKE Sermons

Worship with us on this Pentecost Sunday! Pastor Jeske’s message “We Need The Spirit’s Control” is based on Romans 8:5-11.

This week we will be studying Acts 15:22-35, and worshipping under the theme "THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL: Pentecost Implications." This coming weekend is Pentecost - a week where we celebrate the fact that God the Holy Spirit does not elevate any one human culture above another, but his family boundaries stretch over all nations, languages, colors, and cultures. Based on the past week of social disharmony and tragedy, it's important for Christians to ask how we're currently doing at portraying a light to the world, i.e. a Spirit-given culture that supersedes any earthly culture. The Early Church struggled with cultural superiority too, repented of it, received the grace of Jesus Christ, and then became a more beautiful version. We're looking to be that light to the world too.

LOOK FOR YOUR KING I. He's in Heaven, Ruling All Things for Us II. He's on Earth, Doing All Things through Us Based on Ephesians 1:16-23

This week we will be studying Acts 19:23-41, and worshipping under the theme "THE RIOT IN EPHESUS: The Power and Weakness of Idols." In this account, we actually don't hear any Christians speaking. We only see the secular society in Ephesus responding to Paul's preaching of Jesus & the Resurrection, speaking about how this world's gods can't compare. Paul's message incites a city-wide rebellion. From this we learn how passionately the world defends its false gods and what to expect when we legitimately bring the culture-shaping truth and love of Jesus Christ into the world. We also find motivation to let go of our own idols to which we often clutch too dearly.

Join us for worship for the sixth Sunday of Easter! Pastor Jeske’s message “The Resurrection Changes Everything” is based on I Thessalonians 4:13-18.

This week Pastoral Assistant Ron Kelly will be lead us in a message from Ephesians 2:1-10. This text is essential in understanding the manner of salvation - by grace, not by works. That message runs counterintuitive to a flesh that encourages us to feel like we are the center of the universe. It runs counterintuitive to the spirit of a society that tells us we can do ("work") anything we put our minds to. The manner of the gospel is something this fallen world rages against. So we remind ourselves of a truth that is alien to this world.

Mother’s Day is our theme for this morning, please join us in worship! Today’s message is titled “Adoptive Mothers are God’s Heroes Too” and is based on 2 Chronicles 22:10-12.

This week we'll be studying Acts 17:16-34 under the worship theme of "PAUL'S SERMON IN ATHENS II: Witnessing to a Post-Christian World." That's right we're bringing it back for a second straight week. I mentioned last week that Acts 17 may very well be the single most helpful text in the Bible for figuring out how to evangelize in 2020 America. If you care about witnessing as a Christian in 2020, you must wrestle with Acts 17. The highly educated, pluralistic, hedonistic philosophers that Paul meets in Athens are about as close a biblical equivalent to America's cultural moment as one can find. The Athenians need Law & Gospel, but they need it applied in a away that resonates to their worldview. In particular, this week we're going to learn the art of convincing someone they're already worshipping an Unknown God. We're also going to see the importance of repeatedly pushing people back towards the Resurrection as the focal point of any evangelistic conversation.

We focus on Jesus as the Good Shepherd in our study this morning. Pastor Jeske’s message is based on John chapter 10 - “THE GOOD SHEPHERD REALLY DOES CARE FOR HIS SHEEP.”

This week we'll be studying Acts 17:16-34 under the worship theme of "PAUL'S SERMON IN ATHENS I: Witnessing to a Post-Christian World." Acts 17 may very well be the single most helpful text in the Bible for figuring out how to evangelize in 2020 America. The highly educated, pluralistic, hedonistic philosophers that Paul meets in Athens are about as close a biblical equivalent to America's cultural moment as one can find. The Athenians need Law & Gospel, but they need it applied in a way that resonates to their worldview. So we're actually going to spend 2 weeks seeing how Paul teaches us to do that.

Join Pastor Leyrer on this Third Sunday of Easter as we worship under the theme “He Lives in Our Hearts by His Word.” Today’s message is titled “What a Difference God’s Word Makes,” and is based on Acts 2:36-47.

This week we'll be studying Acts 16:23-34 under the worship theme of "THE JAILER AT PHILIPPI: How a pragmatist gets converted." Acts 16 is a chapter of conversions that are all unique. Timothy, Lydia, The Slaver Girl, and the Jailer are all VERY different people. The gospel works for all of them. And yet God's ministry to them through Paul (and others) is different from one situation to the next. It tells us something about God's personal discipleship plan for us. In particular, we're going to zero in on the category of person that most modern people fall into - the Jailer, i.e. the pragmatist. The Jailer is spiritually apathetic. What can shake someone out of their indifference and lethargy about Jesus? ANSWER: crisis & the practical benefits of Christian faith. We'll see all of that in this lesson as Paul & Silas minister in prison.

For the past 3 years, after Easter, we've taken a look at the Book of Acts, which tells us what the Early Church did after Jesus ascended into heaven. This year we will do the same, moving from Acts 15 - Acts 19, covering incredibly valuable lessons from The Jerusalem Council, Paul's Mission Work in Macedonia, Paul's Sermon in Athens, and the Rioting in Ephesus. This week we'll be studying Acts 15:1-21 under the worship theme of "THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL: The Gospel is BOTH Non-Negotiable AND Extraordinarily Flexible." The Council at Jerusalem is the single most important event of the Early Christian Church that most Christians don't really know about. Yes, Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave and the Spirit now compels us to believe this. But are there REALLY no further qualifications for salvation? Your flesh and world religions tell you there are. The gospel says otherwise.

Message from Easter Sunday, based on Luke 24: 13-35.

Pastor James Hein leads us in worship on this Maundy Thursday under the theme “A Union of Things Coming Together” based on Hebrews 10:19:25.

Pastor Jeske leads us in worship this morning as we observe Palm Sunday. Today’s message is titled “I Must Keep Going” and is based on Luke 13:31-25.

This week we'll be studying John 12:20-33 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers LIFE THROUGH DEATH." Common sense would tell us the way to rise above the world would be to go up. But Jesus' Kingdom is upside-down to this world. In this lesson he'll provide an extraordinary analogy of a seed dying that gives us the secret to Kingdom expansion. The way to LIFE is actually through DEATH.

Pastor Hein explains why we and other churches keep baptismal fonts visible in their sanctuaries. We can take comfort not only in our own baptism but also the baptism of our Savior. Based on Romans 6:1-4.

Pastor Steinberg centers his message around the figure of Jesus that stands central not just in our sanctuary, but also in our lives.

This week we'll be studying John 12:1-1 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers THE ULTIMATE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY." Sometimes "zealot" or "fanatic" is used as a dirty word for religious practitioners. The reality, however, is that EVERYBODY worships someone/something, and worship, by its very essence, is extreme. So what does extreme Christian worship look like? We find a perfect example this week in Mary of Bethany.

Pastor Leyrer highlights the significance of the color purple during Lent.

From now until Easter we are back into our GOSPEL OF JOHN: Believe and Live! series, in which we see how our own unbelief is the biggest obstacle we find to true life. This week we'll be studying John 11:17-27 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers SYMPATHY & HOPE." Jesus loves all people, but he also had some earthly friends that were his closest. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus fell into that category. So, when Jesus hears that Lazarus has fallen ill, and waits to visit him, his patience in the face of panic doesn't feel like love to his friends. We can learn so much from Jesus' interaction with Martha - including how to process grief, how Jesus ministers to us personally, and what the resurrection really means beyond even any superficial level.

Pastor Kleist outlines the meaning of phrase INRI (Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum) or, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," which was fixed above Jesus' head during his crucifixion. Recorded on March 11, 2020.

From now until Easter we are back into our GOSPEL OF JOHN: Believe and Live! series, in which we see how our own unbelief is the biggest obstacle we find to true life. This week we'll be studying John 10:1-15 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers GOOD SHEPHERDING." The only Bible text that I’m aware that is built into EVERY funeral service is Psalm 23 – the Good Shepherd Psalm (i.e. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want... …” There MUST be something about it that so powerfully resonates with human longing that in our most vulnerable moments, the SHEPHERD metaphor, even in a non-shepherding society, is comforting. The safety, the satisfaction, the protection and provision, the tender loving care…it touches the heart in a profound way. Why? We all intuitively know we need some form of shepherding. And Jesus tells us he IS the GOOD SHEPHERD.

This year for Lent, we’re walking through the theme, "Silent Sermons from the Sanctuary" to find inspiration and depth of learning from within the walls of our church. "The Zimbelstern" Recorded 03/04/2020

From now until Easter we are back into our GOSPEL OF JOHN: Believe and Live! series, in which we see how our own unbelief is the biggest obstacle we find to true life. This week we'll be studying John 8:12-20 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers LIGHT FROM ABOVE." One of the hallmarks of The Gospel of John is the 7 famous "I AM" statements. In this text we find Jesus' claim: "I AM the light of the world." And the obvious question is what does that even mean? What properties does LIGHT possess that are properly applied to Jesus Christ. We'll figure that out and find out what it means for us.

This year for Lent, we’re walking through the theme, "Silent Sermons from the Sanctuary" to find inspiration and depth of learning from within the walls of our church. "The Communion Vessels of St. Marcus" Ash Wednesday Recorded 02/26/2020

From now until Easter we are back into our GOSPEL OF JOHN: Believe and Live! series, in which we see how our own unbelief is the biggest obstacle we find to true life. This week we'll be studying John 8:2-11 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers GRACE & TRUTH." Here we find a woman who was caught in adultery. We learn something very important about the perception of sexual sins, the necessary order of grace & obedience, and the amazing relief that comes when we move closer to Jesus.

Our current series is called "ALL IN" and is a study of how Christ sacrificed EVERYTHING for us, and how the appropriate response is that every aspect of our lives would fully belong to him as well. This week we'll be studying Deuteronomy 16:13-17 under the worship theme of "Generosity Is Worship." As we do a brief view of God's major festivals in the Old Testament, with special emphasis on the Feast of Tabernacles, we see that bringing an offering to the Lord was an integral part of worship. We'll also pursue what it means that God now desires for us to offer our entire selves as "living sacrifices" (Rom. 12:1). Since Jesus' offering at the cross completed all sin/guilt offerings for us, what do our offerings signify?

Our current series is called "ALL IN" and is a study of how Christ sacrificed EVERYTHING for us, and how the appropriate response is that every aspect of our lives would fully belong to him as well. This week we'll be studying Hebrews 12:1-3 under the worship theme of "Grateful Generosity." The big idea is that this life is a battlefield, a race, a fight by which we build godly character. We receive God's Word, flex God's promises, fix our eyes on Jesus who completes us and our salvation, and in doing so ... become the people that we're made to be. There is great joy and gratitude in becoming more what God created us to be.

This week we'll be studying Luke 21:1-4 under the worship theme of "Generosity is for Everybody." The concept of generosity is not about amounts, but about the heart. Consequently, every human is equally capable of and responsible for generosity. And every soul that has been graciously saved by Jesus has special reason to express generosity. We'll see one of my favorite examples of that this week when we look at the poor widow who offers to God her last two copper coins.

For the next 5 weeks we'll be hitting the pause button on our Gospel of John series so that we can do something for the first time in my experience at St. Marcus - we're worshipping under the same themes & lessons across all of our services. The series is called "ALL IN" and is a study of how Christ sacrificed EVERYTHING for us, and how the appropriate response is that every aspect of our lives would fully belong to him as well. This week we'll be studying Exodus 16:10-18 under the worship theme of "Leaving a Legacy." There are some amazing concepts embedded in this account of God's miraculous provision to the Israelites. We're going to narrow down how the Israelites' story in the wilderness correlates to our story today. And we're going to see how God's rules for collecting that provision correlate to life principles for the management of blessings today. Tremendous wisdom in here about how God takes care of us and we take care of one another.

For the next 5 weeks we'll be hitting the pause button on our Gospel of John series so that we can do something for the first time in my experience at St. Marcus - we're worshipping under the same themes & lessons across all of our services. The series is called "ALL IN" and is a study of how Christ sacrificed EVERYTHING for us, and how the appropriate response is that every aspect of our lives would fully belong to him as well. This week we'll be studying 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 under the theme of "Confident Generosity." This portion of 2 Corinthians is arguably the most extensive teaching in all the Bible on generosity and any Christian who presumes to be generous must do some wrestling with.

In the opening weeks of our series, Jesus is clearly making the case of his Messiahship. This week something happens that is somewhat shocking and disappointing, but is nonetheless quite revealing - Jesus miraculously heals a man who doesn't appreciate him, doesn't worship him, and actually turns him in to the authorities. And the Apostle John, in his own way, is teaching us this is the basic way humanity reacts to the GRACE of Jesus Christ. The gospel is never what the flesh expects, often what the flesh isn't asking for, and we'll figure out what that means as we study "The Miracle at the Pool by an Unrecognized God" from John 5:1-30.

In the opening weeks of our series, Jesus is clearly making the case of his Messiahship. He's made his case to his early disciples and the Jewish Leadership, and this week he's making his case to the Samaritans. Specifically, Jesus here encounters a woman who has been ostracized from her community due to her lifestyle choices. But Jesus refuses to avoid her. He travels directly to her and states that his gospel is for her as well. This week we seek a perfect template for evangelism as we study John 4:1-24.

In the opening weeks of our series, Jesus is clearly making the case of his Messiahship. Last week he made his case to and through John the Baptist and his early disciples/followers. This week, Jesus is making his case to Jewish leadership. Specifically, he has an encounter with a religious leader named Nicodemus, who he tells to be “born again.” This interaction offers us fascinating insights on the difference between religious moralism and the gospel life. This week we’ll look at “Nicodemus and Being Born Again” from John 3:1-15.

A special Christmas Eve message from Pastor Hein.

From Christmas till Easter, each year, we’ve been working our way through a Gospel. 2 years ago we did Mark. Last year we did Matthew. This year we’ll be taking a look at The Gospel of John. The Apostle John was in the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. He was an eyewitness of Jesus’ ministry and resurrection and his Gospel is the last recorded of the four. The purpose of his book is to see the clear evidence that Jesus is the Son of God, God himself, and experience the abundant life that comes as a result. For the first 5 weeks of this series, we’ll be looking at Jesus making his case of his Messiahship, to a variety of different groups. This week Jesus is making his case of Messiahship to his early followers. We’ll open John’s Gospel with a brief study of John the Baptist (different guy from the author). John the Baptist gets the insane distinction of being the greatest human ever born (discounting Jesus himself). What made him so special? Well, of course it was God’s grace. But comparatively, John the Baptist saw something better than anyone else. What was it? And if we saw it to, what would happen? We’ll answer that question this week as we look at “John the Baptist’s Sense of Self” from John 1:19-34.

We are in our last week in Genesis. And we’re closing with one of my favorite stories of the Bible. It was not until I was an adult, and I comprehended God’s activity in the story of Joseph & his family, that I started to understand the power of God’s sovereignty in my life. This week’s lesson teaches us not merely THAT we should forgive others or THAT we should be content in all of life’s circumstances, but it explains WHY it’s so reasonable. This week we’ll be studying the infinitely deep and beautiful lesson of “Joseph Forgiving His Brothers” from Genesis 50:15-21.

For 2 weeks, we watched Jacob move from being a casual believer, to experience an encounter with God’s grace at rock bottom, to struggling with life, wrestling with God, and ultimately holding on to God until he experiences God’s blessing. But how would all of this affect Jacob’s family? The good and the bad travels with Jacob. And this week we move a bit from contemplating our faith in the dark, individual moments, to contemplating how it operates in the communal, relational moments. We’ll be studying “Joseph’s Dreams” from Genesis 37:2-11, 23-36.

Last week we saw Jacob experiencing his first encounter with God. We learned that it’s one thing to know about God, but another to know God. This week, 20 years later, we see that Jacob has only come to truly trust God after struggling him. And we learn that an essential part of developing a relationship with God can only come in wrestling with him. This week we’ll be studying “Jacob Wrestles With God” from Genesis 32:22-32.

Jacob is the perfect illustration of what happens when you don’t get loved the right way and you start self-medicating. You’re become both a victim and a criminal – i.e. you hurt from problems you didn’t create, but then you take matters into your own hands and try to solve things, only to end up making the situation worse. The real solution is that God’s grace drives him into our brokenness. That experience of grace is what leads to heart transformation. This week, we’ll see what that looked like in the life of Jacob, and what it can mean in ours as well as we study “Jacob’s Ladder” in Genesis 28:10-22.

The only way to truly measure love is to see what you’re willing to endure in order to bless someone. In other words, true love can only be measured by sacrifice. The Bible says this is how we know the extent to which God loves us (1 John 3:16). There is likely not a better image in the Old Testament that depicts the gospel than the story of “Abraham Offers Isaac to God,” from Genesis 22:1-18, which we’ll study this week. We learn here something about the necessity of sacrifice for meaning in life, for reciprocating God’s love, and, most importantly, God’s sacrifice for our salvation.

One of the most divisive stories in the Bible is that of “Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed.” Often, the reason for the controversy stems from each of us looking at the account through our own narrow lens. In reality, the account is one of undeserved, gracious, miraculous deliverance. This week we’ll see what we can learn about the “Sin of Sodom”, the erosion of godliness, and the integrity of our Christian witness as we study Genesis 19:1-17.

One of the principle teachings of the Reformation was the Doctrine of Vocation – the idea that there aren’t spiritual classes, but rather, that God has called EVERY believer to meaningful work. Much seems mysterious about this “calling” thing, so we’ll clear up some confusion about God’s call, we’ll wrestle with the implications of what it actually means, and we’ll see the grace that exists in the Christian call. We’ll do this as we worship under the theme “The Call of Abram” and study Gen. 12:1-9.

This week, we’re hitting the pause button on our current worship series to hold an October Missions Festival. We will be praying for home missions, world missions, and the personal mission fields in each of our lives. We will be studying Colossians 3:1-2, 16 and applying what it means to let the message of Christ dwell deeply within us and within our congregation

In our 4th week of the series, we yet again hit another major turning point in human history – the story of Noah and the Flood. We’ll learn that the “Floods” of a fallen world are primarily caused by human selfishness. The only way to find shelter in the midst of the inevitable storms is still in the Ark. And the way to be confident that God has turned away his anger from humanity is by focusing on a sweet-smelling sacrifice from his Son. We’ll be studying a whole bunch of verses from Gen 6-9.

We’re in our 3rd week of the series, and this week we’ll be dissecting the story of Cain and Abel. Envy and bitterness result in a highly religious guy, a guy who knows God, killing his own brother, with painful consequences. Already in a fallen world, we discover how sin, God’s grace, and hope for salvation are present in every human story. We’ll be studying Genesis 4:1-16.

Outside of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the most classic, most famous story of the Bible is likely the Fall of Mankind. It is the quintessential story of INFINITE DEPTH. The exact same dynamics that happened with Adam and Eve in the Garden at the Tree has happened to humans billions of times since. And the solution is the same. What are those dynamics? We’ll dig into it as we examine Adam and Eve’s Fall from Genesis 3:1-9.

We all have a lot of stories that we perhaps studied as kids in Sunday School, but we’ve never really, fully reexamined them as adults. These stories do have superficial morals, which we probably learned when we were young, but we may not have understood how the stories fit in to the greater story of Jesus and salvation, nor how our daily struggles resonate with these ancient characters. They are INFINITELY deep. So, we revisit them, not because the stories are new, but because we are continuously being made new.  This week we’ll examine the Creation Account from Genesis 1:1-25.