St Marcus Mke Sermons

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:

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.