St Marcus Mke Sermons

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. 

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: The Danger of Rejection and Joy of Reception.” Perhaps the single most common question I get about God as a pastor today is some variation of “How could a loving God send someone to hell?” Closely related to that is the question of if salvation comes through the good news of the gospel, how is it fair that some people seemingly have more access to the gospel than others? It’s an honest and logical question. But it’s also one God has already thought about. While God doesn’t answer every speculation we might have, he always provides reasonable evidence for us to see his wisdom and love. We’ll learn about the nature of God’s judgment this week as we study Matthew 11:20-30.

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: Sends Out The Weak.” Last week we said that if you’re a Christian, that means that you’re called. But God always calls people in for the purpose of sending them out. YOU will be his witnesses! What will we accomplish? How should we prepare? What can we expect? We learn all of that as we see Jesus send out his disciples for the first time in Matthew 10:5-22.

Our theme for this week is “Jesus: Calls Sinners.” Since Matthew is writing predominantly to Jewish leaders, he’s often pushing the angle of how the good news of Jesus and following Jesus is different from traditional religion. This week, that tension is highlighted by the phrase, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matt. 9:13) When Jesus calls us, what is he calling us away from? And what is he calling us to? We’ll discuss all of that and more as we examine Matthew 9:9-17.

This week we get to look at a collection of Jesus’ miracles as we worship under the theme “Jesus: Healer of Wounds.” What is the goal of Jesus’ miracles? What is the environment in which they take place? What do they teach us about the character of Jesus and where we’re going? What do they tell us about how we should be spending our time on earth? We’ll discuss all of these as we do an overview of Jesus’ Miracles while studying Matthew 8:5-17.

We finish up our look at Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount this week by learning the difference between real & false Christianity. The Sermon on the Mount is less a tale of good vs. evil and more a tale of authentic vs. counterfeit Christianity. And Jesus, this week, teaches about the marks of genuine faith, as we study Matthew 7:15-23.

Our worship series in early 2019 is titled The Gospel of Matthew: The One You’ve Been Waiting For.  This week, we move into Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount.” We live in a society that tells us we must never make judgments upon others and sometimes even says this is fully a biblical sentiment. What does Jesus really teach about making judgments? He offers a brilliant, somewhat controversial teaching on the spiritual discernment of others in Matthew 7:1-6.

Our worship series in early 2019 is titled The Gospel of Matthew: The One You’ve Been Waiting For. This week, we encounter the famous story of Jesus’ Testing in the Wilderness. It’s the single best blueprint he gives us in the Gospels for overcoming temptation. But his endurance also helps us understand the depths of his love. This week we’ll be studying Matthew 4:1-11. 

As we start a new year, we start a new worship series, titled The Gospel of Matthew: The One You’ve Been Waiting For.  As we begin Matthew’s Gospel, we’ll study a young Jesus’ flight from Bethlehem to Egypt and back to Nazareth. This story tells us something very interesting about the journey not only of Christ, but of our lives. We will face opposition at every stop, and glory will come from unexpected places. Our teaching will be based on Matthew 2:13-23.

The end of the year is a nice time not only to remember, but also to let go. The biblical concept of forgiveness is primarily letting go of holding things against others any longer. This doesn’t come naturally. And when it doesn’t come at all, this bitterness turns into what is called WRATH. It’s the same impulse that led to Esau desiring to kill his own brother. We need to learn how to forgive in order to find peace. And this week, we’ll learn how to do that by studying Hebrews 12:12-17.

Without question, perhaps especially this time of year, the world struggles with ENVY. And for many of us, it’s not nearly as simple as wanting more material things. Sometimes it’s the charm of a seemingly perfect family. Sometimes it’s the talents of someone who objectively just has more gifts than us. Or sometimes it’s simply the nostalgic longing for “the way things used to be.” But that yearning for MORE easily turns into a despising of what we currently have, and this eats away at our souls. It definitely happened with the Israelites. And this week we’ll see what to do about it as we study Numbers 11:4-6.

If the world has a definition of “sin” anymore, it’d probably be something like doing bad things. That’s partially true. In Catechism classes, we might call that “Sins of Commission.” But more subtle, and sometimes more offensive, are what we might call “Sins of Omission.” This is not so much doing the wrong thing, but failing to do the right thing. This hurts people just as much. And these are the sins that are the easiest to forget about. We’ll be discussing this concept of the deadly sin of LAZINESS/SLOTH as we tackle the case study of Jacob in Genesis 34:1-7. 

The concept of the Seven Deadly Sins is not so much that we love bad things, but that we hyper-love and over desire good things. It’s an excessiveness and misguided prioritization of the heart. The sin of LUST is primarily a sin of craving the excitement and pleasure of human sexuality in a way outside of God’s beautiful design. This week we’ll be looking at a case study on LUST in the story of Joseph & Potiphar’s Wife from Genesis 39:2-21.

The concept of the Seven Deadly Sins is not so much that we love bad things, but that we hyper-love and over desire good things. It’s an excessiveness and misguided prioritization of the heart. The sin of GLUTTONY is primarily a sin of the excessive craving of a good thing.   This week we’ll be looking at a case study on GLUTTONY in the person of Achan from Joshua 7:19-25