St Marcus MKE Sermons

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.

In the final week of our series, we’ll be looking at our 4th St. Marcus CORE VALUE: Radical Expectations. We’ll be studying the story of Jesus, on Maundy Thursday, getting down on his hands and knees and washing his disciples’ feet. It was a disgusting task that demonstrated unthinkable humility. Further shocking to the system is the fact that Jesus then says, “You will be blessed if you do these things.” What does this mean? We’ll look to find out as we study together John 13:1-9, 17.

This week we come to the 3rd of our St. Marcus CORE VALUES: Biblical Discipleship. This concept means that your life agenda is not your own; it’s not driven by your wants and desires. Growth and development requires structure and discipline. It requires sitting at the feet of another as well as helping lead another. It requires confronting the truth, no matter how enjoyable or painful…because the truth of God sets people free. Jesus elaborates on this method to liberation as we study together John 8:31-42.

Last week, we had the opportunity to talk about what sacrificial love to one another looks like, including in our community. This week we’re hopping back to look at the first of our CORE VALUES, “Christ First.” It’s ultimately an issue of priorities. And the story of Mary & Martha is tremendously profound when it comes to learning to balance multiple important things in life. This week we’ll study Luke 10:38-42.

For the second straight year, we’re going to be spending a month at the beginning of our school year studying our St. Marcus CORE VALUES. This week we’re looking at the CORE VALUE of “Sacrificial Love” as we have the 3rd annual opportunity to be “in our community” for worship at our Outdoor Service.

Run the Race Marked Out For You I. Christ is Your Strength II. God Gives You Training Based on Hebrews 12:1-11

This is the FINAL WEEK in our summer series on Romans. After explaining our justification (chapters 1-4), and our the initial natural reactions of our flesh to that justification (chapters 5-7), the Apostle Paul is now going to teach us about how to lead a “Life by the Spirit” (Rom. 8:5-17). This involves a radical redefining of WHO you are and WHAT you do in life.

We’re up to week 9 of 10 in our summer Romans series. In chapter 6, Paul addressed the attitude that if Jesus paid for our sins, our sins must not matter anymore. Now, in chapter 7, he’s moving into teaching us how to better fight temptation. All Christians struggle with sin. But all Christians are also given a supernatural power to overcome. And the long-term answer to winning more battles is not merely in asserting greater willpower. This week we’ll look at a lesson on “War With Self” as we study Romans 7:14-25.

In Romans 6, Paul is helping us work out the implications of “Justification” (i.e. God declares us “not guilty” of our sins because of Jesus’ work. That means eternal salvation! But what does it mean for my life RIGHT NOW?) If my sins don’t detract from my salvation, do they even matter? If good works don’t generate salvation, then why bother? Paul anticipates that logic and responds by giving us a lesson on what it means to be “Slaves to Righteousness” in Romans 6:19-23.

We are in the 2nd half of our summer series on Romans. The Apostle Paul has clearly established that salvation comes as the gift of Christ Jesus, not through pedigree (who you are) or performance (what you do). The natural response for some listeners was to say, “Well, I guess what I do in my life doesn’t make any difference then. Are you saying my sins don’t matter?” Paul is directly addressing that logic this week and it’s supremely practical. Paul confronts everything you’ve ever been disgusted with in yourself or others in licentious, lukewarm, standardless Christianity. And he teaches us that if we are “United to Christ” we become instruments of righteousness. Join us this week as we examine Romans 6:5-14.

This week we begin our 2nd half of the series on Romans. The Apostle Paul is shifting from making the radical statement that we are saved by grace (NOT performance or pedigree) through faith in chapters 1-4 to now teaching about how that impacts our present lives in chapters 5-8. This week we’ll learn 4 distinct and amazing implications of the Christian gospel as we worship under the theme “What Justification Brings” and study Romans 5:1-11.

Every human wants acceptance, love, and appreciation. In this world, we’re convinced we’ll have to work for it. That’s how the world operates - meritocracy. So we work hard at something on which all our hope rests. The Apostle Paul would call that life pursuit our “boast.” And if we achieve what we’re working for, we become proud. If we fail at what we’re working for, we start self-loathing. Both of those are dangerous. But what if there was a validation we could receive that would make us confident, but not arrogant? Humble in success but also content even after failure. The gospel offers exactly that. It’s what Abraham needed. It’s what David need. And Paul will teach us this week that we need it too as we study Romans 4:1-8.

At the center of all biblical doctrine is Paul’s Letter to the Romans. And at the center of Romans is the notion of gifted “RIGHTEOUSNESS,” perhaps the most under-comprehended, underappreciated teaching of the Bible. This week we’ll do our most thorough study of this concept of “The Righteousness of the Gospel” as we examine Romans 3:21-31.

In Romans, Paul teaches that the good news of Jesus is the only one-size-fits-all solution for humanity. Last week we established that the gospel is the thing that the pagan world desperately needs. The bad behaviors in society come when people suppress the truth of God and exchange it for a love of created things. This week, Paul teaches about another form of idolatry – a religious idolatry. Consequently, though they tend to be shocked by this revelation, religious people need the gospel just as much as the pagans. Paul will expound on this truth as we study Romans 2:17-29.

Humanity’s greatest need is reconciliation to the God we’ve rebelled against. Last week, the Apostle Paul told us that this reconciliation cannot come through man’s work, but only through Christ’s gift. This week, Paul adds the thought that the pagan world is not inherently interested in this “good news” of Jesus. This world inherently knows the truths of God, but suppresses those inconvenient truths, choosing to worship created things rather than a Creator God. And this idolatry drives all the bad behavior we see in the world, including our own. As we study Romans 1:18-25 this week, however, we’ll see what God does to solve the problem.

This summer we’re going to be working our way through the first half of Paul’s Letter to the Romans, which is considered by many scholars to be the most foundational of Christian writings. It is here that the Apostle Paul, who is the primary human agent that God uses to record the New Testament, lays out the essence of the gospel in the most comprehensive form. This week, as we hear Paul stating that he is not “ashamed” of the gospel, we’ll be looking at the natural offense the message of Jesus is to human flesh, which is further proof as to why we need that gospel. The start to our series will be a study of Romans 1:16-17.

This is our final week in the series and we’ll be worshipping under the theme “Merely Human Messengers.” This week we examine a fascinating account from Acts 14:8-21 in which the pagans in the city of Lystra don’t know what to make of Christian missionaries Paul and Barnabas. In fact, after witnessing a miracle, they start worshipping them as gods. This week we’ll examine what we can learn from this for our own witness.

Our theme for this week is “Paul’s Early Preaching.” When it comes to witnessing, an area where many Christians get stuck is in debating peripherals – aspects of the sanctified life God intends for his people. In reality, the most important point of discussion is “Did Jesus rise?” Our willingness to submit to his will all hinges on whether or not he’s God. The Apostle Paul is excellent about always staying on task and we too can learn how to stay focused in spiritual discussions as we study Acts 13:26-44.

Our theme for this week is “What the Church Did.” In Chapter 11, after hearing three stories of conversion, we start to understand that the gospel is moving full force out into the Gentile world. Perhaps the best example of that is the church in Antioch under the leadership of Barnabas. Studying that location and that guy will give us a fantastic insight in how the Holy Spirit seeks to work through his churches in the city today. This week’s message comes from Acts 11:19-30.

Our theme for this week is “The Conversion of Saul.” The Book of Acts tells us a great deal about conversion. Conversion is an essential part of Christianity. And while in one sense, our hearts are converted only once, in another sense, as our sinful unbelief it’s perpetually being fought by the Spirit, our hearts are continually converting. Saul of Tarsus, who turns from persecutor of Christians to famous missionary is perhaps the most famous conversion in history and there’s a ton to learn as we study Acts 9:10-19.

Our theme for this week is “Philip and a Foreigner.” The Book of Acts tells us the story of the Early Christian Church. By and large, what the Spirit of God moved the early Christians to believe and do would seemingly fully apply to us still today. This includes things like gospel proclamation, conversion, discipleship, communal love and healing, etc. In the second quarter of Acts, we see numerous stories of conversion that should shape the way we understand Christianity, and inspire us to deeper discipleship, particularly extending ourselves into the lives of those drastically different from us. This week, we find an early church leader (Philip) evangelizing a highly talented, but spiritual lost foreigner (an Ethiopian eunuch.) There’s much to learn as we study Acts 8:26-40.

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: Coming as King.” The Bible is filled with irony at its most crucial moments. When God becomes human at Christmas, he’s born in a barn, lower than most humans. When Jesus conquers Satan on Good Friday, it’s not the blood of enemies, but his own blood being poured out. When Jesus rises on Easter Sunday he appears first to women, who don’t legally qualify as witnesses. When God the Spirit evangelizes about Jesus at Pentecost, he does so through Peter, the guy who most famously had denied Jesus. Our salvation is thoroughly ironic, right down to the fact that we are saved by grace, not by works. All that said, I might argue that the event which most clearly teaches this irony, and the subsequent confusion of mankind, is that which takes place on the weekend prior to Holy Week – Jesus Coming as a King into the Holy City. We’ll learn what this teaches us and how to use it this Saturday as we study Matthew 21:1-11.

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: The Next Life.” Will we be married in heaven? It’s not a question to which a simple “YES” or “NO” is a sufficient answer. It’s complicated. But it’s also beautiful. And it’s practical. That’s what made it a great test question when the Sadducees presented it to Jesus. His answer is paradigm-shifting. And in the process, Jesus exposes the real issue with the Sadducees, which is one that we unwittingly struggle with just as much. We’ll find out how to leverage the promises of heaven in our daily lives this week as we examine Matthew 22:23-33.

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: Why Grace and Not Merit.” This week we’re taking a look at one of the most seemingly UNFAIR stories in the Bible. It’s a parable in which Jesus teaches us how His Kingdom works. And it totally exposes our flesh’s inherent dislike of grace. On Saturday we’ll be studying The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard from Matthew 20:1-16.

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: How To Forgive.” When defining Christianity, the place you have to start is forgiveness. While this might seem obvious, it’s often forgotten. The fact that we’re bitter comes from holding grudges. This is a lack of forgiveness. The lack of self-esteem we have and the self-loathing that comes from regret. This is a lack of forgiveness. The inability to form and maintain meaningful relationships. Generally speaking, this is a lack of forgiveness. Christianity is nothing if it isn’t forgiveness. But Jesus’ forgiveness offers us life and teaches us how to do life. We’ll learn the practical steps of reconciliation as we study from Matthew 18:15-20.

Pastor Jeske's message from the Feast of St. Patrick service. Acts 18:1-4 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: Sufficient Evidence.” A major factor to our insecurities in life is not as much a lack of evidence/reason to be secure, but a lack of belief despite the evidence. This week, we’ll see Jesus teach the Pharisees about the sufficiency of the “Sign of Jonah.” The death & resurrection of Christ is the ultimate proof that we are loved by God and that God is in control of our lives. Come learn further what this means as we study Matthew 12:38-45.

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: The Necessity of Priority.” A fallen human heart struggles to ascribe value to the right things. We are, by nature, misprioritizers. Since the word “worship” comes from the Old English “worth-ship” (meaning, to ascribe value), we should assume that without the guidance of God’s Word, we’re continually struggling with worshipping the wrong things. We need Word & Sacraments to aim us back in the right direction. Jesus offers a profound teaching on the nature of priorities through two very short parables which we’ll study this week, from Matthew 13:44-46.