St Marcus MKE Sermons

The theme for the 2023 Lenten season is “His Final Steps.” We'll be exploring Jesus’ final days before, during, and after his crucifixion. Different locations will serve as the theme for each Lenten service.  This week, we are led to the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus shows His power over Lazarus' tomb and further displays His power over our own tombs. If He has the power to overcome death, does He not also have the power to work in your life every single day? If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

We’re studying Matthew 17:1-9 under the theme “Listen to Him.” The Transfiguration is a moment when Jesus strengthens his inner circle of disciples by revealing an unusual measure of his divine nature to them, prior to descending on a journey to Calvary. This world includes many dark valleys but, for the believer, we survive by anticipating the glory of Mount Zion while listening to our Lord & Savior’s voice. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

We’re studying Matthew 6:19-24 this weekend under the theme of “Tangibly Offering Your Heart.” Jesus teaches that there is freedom, wisdom, and joy for the eyes that perceive eternity, and aren’t blinded by the temporal materials of this fallen world. Our hearts follow wherever our treasures go. This principle also teaches us what Jesus truly treasured. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

We’re studying Matthew 6:5-15 this weekend under the theme “A Model for Prayer and Life.” The Lord’s Prayer is perhaps one of the most used and abused gifts that has been given to the Christian Church. It is a template and pattern for not only how we pray, but also how we approach life. This lesson will give us a foundation for prayer, the substance of prayer, and the key to surrendering in prayer. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying Matthew 4:21-24, 38-48 under the theme of "Loving Enemies." Almost every society in history has advocated for demonstrating kindness, love, and generosity toward family and friends. Christianity’s unique teaching, however, encourages us to take a smack in the face from an enemy, while not running, not hitting back, and not enabling the wrongdoer to do it again. The Savior who took hell in our place teaches us that grace neither repays sin, nor permits sin, but pays for sins. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

Old Testament believers really weren't all that different from believers today. They lived and walked in darkness, they consulted with spiritists and mediums who "peep and mutter," and looked for signs on what to do next in this life. Relating that to today, humans often look to social media, influencers, or the news for advice instead of seeking out what God has already instructed in His Word. Listening to any voice other than God's leaves us distressed in the darkness. However, Jesus appears to us in the darkness and calls for us to "Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near." By His death on the cross, we have been released from our darkness and a new Light has dawned. Based on Isaiah 8:19-9:4 and Matthew 4:12-23. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying Matthew 2:13-23, under the theme of "The Escape to Egypt." Last week we saw how Jesus’ ministry got started as he publicly identified with our sins in his Baptism, and immediately moved to the wilderness to succeed where we would inevitably fail. This week, we back up a step and see how this mission was not only prophesied, but imaged in the Old Testament Scriptures. God orchestrated stars, angels, and dreams to carry out his plans. And he governs our lives with equal detail today. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying Matthew 3:13-4:11, under the theme of "Baptized for Our Failures." The question of Jesus' Baptism is a peculiar one when we consider his sinlessness, evidenced by his resistance of testing from Satan. But he is baptized for OUR sins, with the goal of switching places with us.  SERIES SUMMARY: Matthew's Gospel  is the first book of the New Testament, and tells how Israel's long-awaited Messiah final has arrived in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus fulfills all prophecy, but is nonetheless rejected by the hypocritical Jewish religious leaders and nation. Still, because he came graciously, he also dies graciously, forgives our sins, and rises to ensure our salvation. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

So, what is Christmas really about? It's not about those "warm fuzzy" feelings that the songs, movies, commercials, and stores try to sell us during the Christmas season. Christmas is about fear; specifically the absence of fear that the gift of Christ brings every believer. Whether we experience lowliness, loneliness, losses, or lapses in this mortal life, the Gospel points us to the One who has already conquered all of our greatest fears for us. "Don't be afraid. Behold!"  Based on Luke 2:1-20. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we close out our Numbers series by studying Numbers 22:21-41, under the theme of "Balaam's Donkey." This week is less a look at Israel, more about how God directs forces outside of people to bless his people. If God must make a donkey talk to bring blessing into your life, that's exactly what he'll do. If God has to take a beating to save your life, he will. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

Have you ever felt like there is a separation or ever-widening gap between you and God? What does it mean to be “in Christ?” God sent His Son to be our substitute. He offered up Himself as the final sacrifice so that we no longer need to fear the agony of death and the separation of our Father’s everlasting love.  Based on 2 Corinthians 5:14—6:2. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying Numbers 21:4-9, under the theme of "The Bronze Snake." Almost 40 years into Israel's wilderness wandering, they're still struggling with the issue of grumbling. As a result, God allows a uniquely appropriate consequences, an experience that does physically what the Israelites have been doing spiritually in their grumbling. He also offers a unique and foreshadowing solution - looking to a snake lifted up on a pole. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

Christmas movies and media often confuse a lack of sorrow with joy, as if they are on the opposite sides of a spectrum. What do we do with sorrow that persists? What do we do with sorrow even when we know joy? Christmas leads us to the cross: where joy and sorrow meet.  Based on Zephaniah 3:14-20. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying Numbers 16:1-24, 31-35, 41-50, under the theme of "Korah's Rebellion." The Israelites had a grumbling problem. They complained about their conditions. They complained about their leaders. And it tried God's patience. In fact, they would need a mediator to come between them and God's wrath over their rebellion. Herein we learn wisdom about where we choose to set up our tents in life, why we should show respect to God-given leaders, and how our Heavenly Father shows grace and patience with us. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

There is a big difference between preparing for Christmas and preparing for Jesus. It’s easy to prepare for a single day and then move onto the next, but Jesus doesn’t come for just a day. He comes to stay.  Based on Luke 3:1-20.  If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

Many of us wrap up the Thanksgiving celebration with a viewing of a favorite holiday classic like It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, or Elf. This is an unofficial acknowledgement that we are transitioning on to an important time of year. The historical church calendar has traditionally done something similar. There is a fall-time recognition of the End Times, before we turn the page back to the beginning, Advent, when we process the coming of the Promised Messiah. The bounce between 2nd Coming and 1st Coming is a believer's balance of the "Already...but not yet" experience of being God's people in the wilderness of life. This week we study Romans 13:11-14 under the theme of "Look What Time It Is!"

This week we'll be studying Numbers 12:1-16, under the theme of "Miriam & Aaron Oppose Moses." After slandering Moses' wife, Miriam and Aaron get a firm reminder to be content in their calling, submit to God's will, and honor God's choices, even as they experience God's grace. SERIES SUMMARY: The Book of Numbers picks up at Mt Sinai, roughly where the Book of Exodus ended. The task before the nation is to take possession of the Promised Land. The Israelites are counted and resume march. But…they begin incessantly grumbling at the hardships of the wilderness and leadership of Moses & Aaron. In this series, we're going to see how discontentment with life, distrust of leaders, and disbelief in God’s promises complicates life unnecessarily; and, if left unrepented, could even prevent blessing of the  Promised Land. We'll also see God's patient, undeserved, unfailing love for his people. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying Hebrews 12:4-13, under the theme of "Enduring Discipline." Throughout this series, we've said the Hebrews were new Jewish converts to Christianity, who were reconsidering the faith due to present hardship. As the author of Hebrews has made logical points to persuade them to not give up, his final major argument is that the hardship a Sovereign God allows in our lives is akin to a loving Father's discipline. It comes from a place of love. And it aims towards a place of our betterment.

By holding on to the Truth of God's Holy Word, we experience the freedom of no longer being slaves to sin. Based on John 8:31-36.

This week we'll be studying Hebrews 11:1-3; 13-17, under the theme of "The Nature of Saving Faith." The author of Hebrews reminds us in this chapter of the "heroes" of Israelite history. These were heroes of faith more than heroes of faithfulness. None of them was saved by their own righteousness, but by a righteousness that came by/through faith. This confidence in God's promises of life eternal then led to them acting courageously in this life presenting a powerful pattern for us.

This week we'll be studying Hebrews 10:19-27, under the theme of "Keep Moving Forward Together." The modern western world champions the idea of individual autonomy. Its two most devastating lies then are 1) that we can save ourselves, and 2) that we can do a relationship with God by ourselves. But the writer to the Hebrews teaches the necessity of meeting together, the danger of deliberately sinning against this, and the identity that unites us in the Church.

This week we'll be studying Hebrews 9:11-22, under the theme of "The Shedding of Blood." Many people today like the idea of a loving God, but the moment you start talking about bloody sacrifices, they perceive it as an unnecessary and barbaric holdover from ancient, violent people. But what is blood? Why were blood sacrifices necessary for God's people? What is the role of Jesus' bloody sacrifice, and where does blood fit in regarding us as living sacrifices? This text takes us back to the necessity of blood sacrifices, the Great High Priest's blood sacrifices, and how allowing ourselves to be drained of some life can still mean life for others today.

This week we'll be studying Hebrews 4:1-13, under the theme of "Entering God's Rest." Despite our basic needs of life being met in historically unprecedented ways, the average person today reports being more anxious, more isolated, and less rested than at most moments in history. God offers a deep, powerful, soul rest for those who are interested. But it's on his terms, not ours.

This week we'll be studying Hebrews 2:5-18, under the theme of "Sharing Our Humanity." God did not hover above earth giving us advice on our problems. He came down in the person of Jesus, experienced life with us, and overcame death for us. He now compels us to similarly enjoin ourselves to the hurt of others in order to bring God's grace and power into their lives. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying Luke 16:19-31, the story of The Rich Man and Poor Lazarus, under the theme of "God, Our Helper in Life and in Death." If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying Jonah 4:1-11 under the theme of "God's Compassion to Jonah." Most people can tell you there's a fish that swallows a man in the Book of Jonah. Fewer can tell you Jonah goes to Nineveh in chapter 3. But very few can tell you how the book ends, why it's a cliffhanger, and what the major lessons of the book truly are. This week, in the final chapter, God disciples a self-righteously wayward spiritual child, reiterates his love for humanity, and creates in us a longing for a prophet who doesn't sit outside a city hoping for its destruction but goes outside the city to die for the city.

This week we'll be studying Jonah 3:1-10 under the theme of "Jonah Listens to God." God graciously recommissions Jonah. And Jonah reluctantly carries out his mission with a relatively simple message. But God's Word is effective in ways we can't understand. A nation turns from its violence. And God teaches us important things about the necessity of suffering for saving, the ministry strategy of city, and the ULTIMATE JONAH who entered a city not simply to prevent it from dying, but to die for it. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive

This week we'll be studying a combination of Jonah 2:1-10 under the theme of "Jonah Prays to God." Having run away from God and God's will as central to his life...having endured a self-inflicted storm that threatened the existence of everyone in his boat...and having been thrown overboard to experience the chaotic  rock bottom of the sea, Jonah is finally ready to pray to God. Sometimes it takes a lot for us to truly open up to God. Experiencing our failures and God's undeserved goodness certainly helps.

This week we'll be studying a combination of Jonah 1:1-17 under the theme of "Jonah Runs From God." Jonah, a prophet of God, had a simple message to give to the city of Nineveh. But he refused to give it. Why? It wasn't the fear you might suspect. Rather, Jonah had a pride, and an idol, of religious nationalism that prevented him from loving humans the way he should. What does it look like for modern people to run from God? And what does God do about it?

The Big Idea this week would be to recognize we don't DESERVE relationship with God, but nonetheless HAVE relationship with God by grace, and therefore we're learning to LIVE out of that relationship with God in anticipation of knowing we'll experience it fully in eternity.

This week we'll be studying James 1:12-18 & Exodus 20:17-21 under the theme of "The 9th & 10th Commandments - Controlling Desires." In a society that teaches children to "follow your heart" as a life-operating principle, it's not surprising that a word like "COVET" has nearly dropped out of our vernacular entirely. But it's impossible to understand why you do what you do unless you can get to the bottom of why you desire what you desire. Coveting, the last of the commands, is about controlling our desires.

This week we'll be studying 1 Timothy 5:9-15 & Exodus 20:16 under the theme of "The 8th Commandment: Constructive Speech." Words can be the most powerful weapons in the world. We must take care to use them in the way the God who spoke the universe into creation uses his words - i.e. constructively. And we're saved and motivated to do this by seeing the Word who became flesh take a verdict of condemnation in our place so that we can have an affirmation of grace.

This week we'll be studying Luke 12:13-21 & Exodus 20:15 under the theme of "The 7th Commandment: Stewarding God's Stuff." The counterintuitive wisdom of gaining by giving is completely foreign to fallen humans from birth. Jesus spends LOTS of time in the Gospels talking about money - what he does & doesn't want us to do with it. But it's all with the intention that giving fits our design, and brings unique and lasting blessings.

This week we'll be studying Matthew 5:27-30 & Exodus 20:14 under the theme of "The 6th Commandment: Navigating Sex & Marriage." By God's design, sex is like a nuclear power in its capacity for good or evil. It can literally create life or destroy life. Only when we submit to God's will do God's gifts ultimately serve as blessings.

This is Pastor Mark Jeske's final message at St. Marcus Lutheran Church after 42 years of faithful service. "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18 If you'd like to view this service in its entirety, click the link below.  YT: https://youtu.be/KVHe6wi-wlw

This week we'll be studying 1 John 3:11-18 & Exodus 20:13 under the theme of "The 5th Commandment: Protecting Our Neighbors." If we operate with the knowledge that relatively few have murdered, but the assumption that everyone has broken the 5th Commandment, it leads us to an understanding of the command that suggests the fallen human condition struggles with anger that leads us to poorly love our neighbors. Luther would go so far as to say that failing to help someone in need when we have resources to do so is tantamount to killing them. The only way to learn to love properly is to see clearly the Savior who was murdered in our place.

We live in a damaged and war-torn world and it will continue to be a broken place until the return of Christ our King. Revelation 19 contains fantastic imagery of our Heavenly Warrior leading angel armies, striking down the nations, and ultimately defeating death. This is the God we worship.

This week we'll be studying Romans 13:1-7 & Exodus 20:12 under the theme of "The 4th Commandment: Honoring Authority." The Bible makes it clear that God established 3 unique institutions for our physical and spiritual welfare - the Family, the State, and the Church. A spirit of individualism and sinful flesh makes it very difficult to honor the authority of each. But seeing Jesus above each of these authorities makes submitting to them a blessing, wisdom...SO THAT IT MAY GO WELL WITH YOU.

Does it drag your spirit down when you see the current state of America's politics? Look at it from God's perspective. America's greatest gift to the world is to present an ideal of the universal worth and dignity of ALL people -- equally endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights.  Pastor Jeske's Independence Day message is based on selections from Romans 12 & 13. Recorded on 7/3/2022. 

This week we'll be studying Psalm 122:1-9 & Exodus 20:8-11 under the theme of "The 3rd Commandment: Resting in God's Promises With God's People." Modern people have a very interesting relationship with work/rest. This week, we'll dig into why God needed to command intentional rest. We'll see that though the Sabbath Day was technically part of the Old Testament ceremonial laws, we nonetheless maintain the lasting principles of 1) Togetherness, 2) Rest, and 3) Joyful Worship that was associated with the Sabbath.

This week we'll be studying 1 Peter 2:11-17 & Exodus 20:7 under the theme of "The 2nd Commandment: Upholding God's Reputation." Most Christians feel as though if they don't use the Lord's Name in vain, they've perfectly obeyed the 2nd Commandment, which would be a fairly low bar. In reality, as Name Bearers of our Lord & Savior, everything we do reflects upon Christ. We'll consider the deeper implications of the 2nd Commandment as we recognize the beauty of his Name.

The story of Juneteenth and the freedom of American slaves can be compared to the spiritual freedom that we have in Christ. We are all enslaved to sin but have been set free by Christ! What shall we do with this freedom? We are not free to simply do as we please and to continue to live as unbelievers, rather we are free so that we may serve others and serve our God!

This week we'll be studying 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 & Exodus 20:3-6 under the theme of "The 1st Commandment: Prioritizing God." The single most comprehensive way of understanding human pathological behavior is to grasp the biblical teaching of idolatry - making a good thing a god thing in our lives, where we ask created things to give us what only the Creator God can actually give us. We'll try to identify the nature of idolatry, our own personal idols, and what the true God did about our false gods.

The decision of the Father to love us despite our sinful nature is the most amazing mystery. He came to us first, as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit so that we might be able to come to Him. Based on Titus 3:3-8.

Celebrate being chosen and loved by God the Father. Celebrate that your sins have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus, the Savior. Celebrate that the Holy Spirit lives within the mess of your mind and heart. Based on 1 Corinthians 12:1-3. Message from Sunday Worship 6/5/2022.

This week, we'll be studying Acts 9:19-31 under the theme "Assimilation of the Persecutor." We can only imagine what it was like for the widows and fatherless in Jerusalem to have to look into the eyes of Saul of Tarsus, who'd taken lives from their families, upon his return to Jerusalem. It wasn't until an encouraging, grace-filled man named Barnabas put his arm around Saul that the church was willing to welcome him. This lesson teaches us all sorts of things about humbling ourselves, forgiving, and welcoming the repentant back into our lives.

Jesus encourages us to look forward to the perfect place He is preparing for His people at the end of time without any worry. God has something much better in store for you than anything and everything that this material world can offer.

This week, we'll be studying Acts 8:9-25 under the theme "Disciples > Sorcerers." In this text, we encounter a man named Simon the Sorcerer, who attempted to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit. While there are numerous takeaways from this text, the main idea is that humans naturally approach God with the mentality that we can bribe, manipulate, or use him for our own advancement. In reality, the only thing we can offer him is our needs. And this is what he wants most.

This week, we'll be studying Acts 5:17-32 under the theme "Reformation Opposition." The opening quarter of the Book of Acts narrates both the otherworldly success and the earthly opposition of the Early Church. Though the religious establishment hoped to silence the Apostles, they responded "We must obey God rather than men?" What are the implications of this conviction for us now in a post-Christian society?

King Jesus is the head over every power and authority. We often panic because our earthly agenda is not aligned with His heavenly schedule. He is the glue that holds the entire world together. When you feel stressed and overwhelmed over disasters or daily life in general, that is the best time to take inventory of all the blessings that God has placed into your hands.