St Marcus Mke Sermons

We're taking a 1-week break from our Judges series, and this week we'll be meditating on our aim as grateful pilgrims in this world as we study from 1 Peter 1:3-8.

On this Thanksgiving Day worship, pastor Jeske's bible study, SAY YOUR THANKS NOT ONLY AT MEALTIMES, dives into the verses of Psalm 136.  This psalm records a worship leader tracing God’s covenant love through the high points, verses that are devoted to the creation story, verses that retell the exodus, and a call to grateful worship.

Christ is Your King! Christ is Your Friend! This week's message is based on Colossians 1:15-23. 

This week we'll be studying Judges 4:1-24 - under the theme "The Bravery of Deborah." God, who designed humans as male and female, has always had a better way of perceiving gender and sexuality than the fallen world. Cultures tend to vacillate between overly restrictive traditionalist viewpoints to progressive viewpoints that contain no guidance or parameters. But everything that is created has design and intention. And God created us male and female. The narrative of Deborah, Barak, and Jael are something of a brilliant microcosm of Scripture's teaching about gender roles, spiritual gifts, and faithfulness.

Based on Daniel 12:1-3.    REMEMBER YOUR RESURRECTION!  I.   When Trouble II.  Gives Way to Triumph   Saints Triumphant Sunday points us to believers in heaven. The older we get, the more we look forward to living in glory. We peek into heaven through God’s Word and see Christian loved ones who have already been transferred from the church militant to the church triumphant. As much as we might miss them now, our hearts leap at the reminder that one day we will join them because their Savior is our Savior too.

Today's theme focuses on the Last Judgment with Pastor Jeske's bible study on Revelation 6:9-17 - What Will You Be Doing on Judgment Day?  At the end of the world, Jesus will come back in glory to judge both the living and the dead. Those who believe in him receive a verdict of “not-guilty.” Those who do not believe stand condemned to the eternal suffering of hell.    How wonderful it is to know our verdict ahead of time!  “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).  

SERIES SUMMARY: The Book of Judges bridges the period between the exodus of the Israelites in Egypt and wandering in the wilderness, to the time of the Kingdom of Israel. God's people have settled in Canaan, but they didn't drive out all the people's God commanded them to. As a result, they continually fell into worshipping foreign gods (i.e. idols). To chastise them, God would allow one of these neighboring nations to oppress them. The Israelites would cry to God for help. And God would then send them a deliverer, a savior, a "judge" to deliver them militarily. When peace were restored, things went well, Israel got spiritually lazy, and the cycle would repeat. In this book, we find a recurring metaphor for apathy in God's people, and yet, God's zealous love for his people seems to increase even as our failures remain.  This week we'll be studying Judges 3:12-20 -  under the theme "The Dirty Work of Ehud." Ehud is an unlikely hero, an apparently disabled man, whom God uses to shame the proud King Eglon of Mo

Today, we celebrate The Festival of the Lutheran Reformation looking at the question, "How Can I Be Sure about My Salvation?".  Pastor Jeske's bible study dives into II Peter 1:12-21. The Festival of the Lutheran Reformation of the Church emphasizes the true Church’s unfailing reliance on the Word of God and unflinching testimony to it in the face of persecution. Jesus promised to pour out his Spirit on the Church that we might be God’s mouthpiece even before kings. Today the Church prays that the Lord gives us the strength to be faithful and the peace of knowing our lives are safe in his hands.

In this, our final week of the series, we'll be studying 1 Peter 5:5-7 -  under the theme "HUMILITY (in Conversation) - RULE 9 - "Assume the person you're listening to might know something you don't." Jordan Peterson, as a clinical psychologist, knows that psychotherapy is more than just giving professional advice. It's engaged conversation, with an emphasis on listening. Humans need to be listened to in order to survive, but that requires humility on the part of the listener - a willingness to care about someone, and even reconsider your position based on their input. Listening is HARD. But it's a powerful expression of grace that can actually provide healing to the hurting. 

This morning, Pastor Jeske finishes his bible study on "All You Need Is Love" by diving into the concept of "Love Your Church" as laid out in 1 Peter 2:17 - Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

This week we'll be studying Acts 5:1-11 -  under the theme "HONESTY - RULE 8 - "Tell the truth - or, at least, don't lie." Honesty is the best policy...or so they say. "Best" in what regard? Honesty can certainly get us into trouble. It can certainly hurt feelings. Honesty can condemn. But it's also the only way forward. Whether we're talking about "telling lies" or "living lies" (i.e. denial), truth alone can set people free. Truth can create order, whereas deception breeds chaos. In our text this week, God establishes very early in the Church that he would not tolerate his people pretending to be something they were not. 

Today's message follows the theme "Love Your Neighbor" continuing Pastor Jeske's series on "All you Need Is Love".   The service includes a presentation on the Central Africa Medical Mission, a 60-year legacy of healthcare in Zambia and Malawi. The volunteers and national staff see many faces and have been a light of Jesus to many people. 

This week we'll be studying Romans 12:1-  under the theme "SACRIFICE - RULE 7 - "Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)." Modern people often look at the ancients, and their practice of things like "sacrifices" as primitive and unscientific. Jordan Peterson, however, would argue that the concept of sacrificing something good in the present in order to bless the future in an even more substantial way is the single most important revelation in human history. The Bible, too, says a great deal about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, and how we are to offer our lives as "living sacrifices" in response. 

Today, seminarian Silas Dose shares a message on Numbers 11:16, 24-29 with the theme "All God's People Proclaim".

This week we'll be studying James 4:11-12 under the theme "CRITICISM - RULE 6 - "Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world." While creating something meaningful is hard work, tearing something down takes very little effort. This is perhaps most evident in our words. And while there are many ways to cause destruction with our words, stander/criticism might be THE most difficult for many of us Christians to resist. This week, we'll find out how criticism from our mouths is directly related to forgetting the gospel in our heads and hearts. 

Today's bible study is part 2 in the series, "All You Need is Love".  Today, Pastor Jeske focuses on the theme "Love Yourself".  Diving into I Corinthians 1:4-9, Paul expresses thanks to God for the Christians in Corinth.  God had been very kind to them, and he had done wonderful things in their lives. Most Christians in Corinth were not wealthy (1:26), but they lacked nothing in their relationship with God. God had made them able to speak for him. God had given them the knowledge that they needed. God had given them his Holy Spirit, and there was evidence of that fact in their lives. 

This week we'll be studying Hebrews 12:7-11 under the theme "PARENTING - RULE 5 - "Don't let kids do anything that makes you dislike them." The fact that God uses the term "Father" as a way for us to describe his relationship with us is fascinating and fairly unique to Christianity. As a loving father, however, the assumption of the writer to the Hebrews is that this means God will discipline us through hardship in life. Many Christians don't like to hear this, just like many parents don't like to hear the necessity of discipline for the development of their child. But God designed us. He loves us and knows what we need for human flourishing. This includes discipline. 

Pastor Jeske launches a new series "All You Need is Love".   Today's message focuses on loving God.  God calls us to know and love him.  Here’s the heart of what God wants from us. First: to understand who God is.  Second: God wants our devotion, loyalty, and love. Develop habits that help you know and love so you don’t forget. To know and love God means that we take repeated action to integrate that knowledge and love into every part of our lives: private, family, and public.

This week we'll be studying 2 Corinthians 10:12-18 under the theme "COMPARISON - RULE 4 - "Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today." If you don't find your identity in the gift of Christ's righteousness, you're going to look for it comparing some aspect of your life against the lives of others, just the way the rest of the world establishes identity. This week, Paul teaches us something about self-image as he contrasts his ministry with that of a group who considered themselves "Super Apostles."

With the theme of teaching your children, Pastor Jeske's bible study today focuses on the first 8 verses of Psalm 78.  The psalm was apparently written by Asaph, who was a Levite and a music leader in the service of King David.  People who do not orient their lives on the testimony of God in Scripture cannot know what is good for them or for their children. They may have strong opinions about what is right or helpful, but those opinions will be based on what feels good or on some cultural pressure or on some human tradition or authority less than God. But the Scripture says that God has established a testimony; he has appointed a law. And Jesus Christ has won our confidence and for his sake we believe the revelation of God in the law and the testimony. We have a God-given compass that keeps us from being lost in the forest of modern-day confusion, the compass of God’s law and his testimony in Scripture.