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 11:17-27 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers SYMPATHY & HOPE." Jesus loves all people, but he also had some earthly friends that were his closest. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus fell into that category. So, when Jesus hears that Lazarus has fallen ill, and waits to visit him, his patience in the face of panic doesn't feel like love to his friends. We can learn so much from Jesus' interaction with Martha - including how to process grief, how Jesus ministers to us personally, and what the resurrection really means beyond even any superficial level. 

Pastor Kleist outlines the meaning of phrase INRI (Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum) or, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," which was fixed above Jesus' head during his crucifixion. Recorded on March 11, 2020.

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 10:1-15 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers GOOD SHEPHERDING." The only Bible text that I’m aware that is built into EVERY funeral service is Psalm 23 – the Good Shepherd Psalm (i.e. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want... …” There MUST be something about it that so powerfully resonates with human longing that in our most vulnerable moments, the SHEPHERD metaphor, even in a non-shepherding society, is comforting. The safety, the satisfaction, the protection and provision, the tender loving care…it touches the heart in a profound way. Why? We all intuitively know we need some form of shepherding. And Jesus tells us he IS the GOOD SHEPHERD.

This year for Lent, we’re walking through the theme, "Silent Sermons from the Sanctuary" to find inspiration and depth of learning from within the walls of our church. "The Zimbelstern" Recorded 03/04/2020

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 8:12-20 under the worship theme of "Jesus Offers LIGHT FROM ABOVE." One of the hallmarks of The Gospel of John is the 7 famous "I AM" statements. In this text we find Jesus' claim: "I AM the light of the world." And the obvious question is what does that even mean? What properties does LIGHT possess that are properly applied to Jesus Christ. We'll figure that out and find out what it means for us. 

This year for Lent, we’re walking through the theme, "Silent Sermons from the Sanctuary" to find inspiration and depth of learning from within the walls of our church. "The Communion Vessels of St. Marcus" Ash Wednesday Recorded 02/26/2020  

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 Bap

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.