Ekklesia Churches Sermons

Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on 12/24/25. Teaching Highlights • Jesus is the Son of God, and the cross is the lens that finally makes his identity unmistakable. • The “exchange” with Barabbas shows how easily we trade Jesus for lesser saviors. • The crucifixion is marked by relentless mockery, yet Jesus fulfills Scripture and bears our shame, not his own. • The darkness, Jesus’...

Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on 12/21/25.   Teaching Highlights • Jesus faces the greatest pressure of His life in Gethsemane and responds with honest, dependent prayer rather than self-preservation • While the disciples fail, sleeping, fleeing, and denying, Jesus remains faithful and fully surrendered to the Father’s will • Our failures under pressure expose our weakness, but t...

Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on 12/14/25.   Teaching Highlights Jesus is not a tragic hero caught in events beyond His control, but the willing Lamb who knowingly walks toward the cross in obedience to the Father. The Lord’s Table is not a saving act in itself, but a means of remembrance that calls for faith, whole-hearted worship, and repentance. Communion proclaims the gospel:...

Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on 12/07/25. Teaching Highlights • Jesus speaks about both the coming fall of Jerusalem and the final end of the world, but his overwhelming focus is on how his people should live now. • Believers are warned that false prophets and false comforts will arise, but true peace is found only in Jesus, not in signs or certainty. • Jesus calls his followers...

Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on 11/30/25.    Teaching Highlights • Jesus exposes the motives behind the trick questions of the Pharisees and Sadducees, redirecting them toward God’s true authority. • The sincere scribe shows that honest questions lead us closer to the kingdom when we receive Jesus’ words with humility. • Jesus reveals the Messiah as greater than David, a categor...

In this week’s passage, we walk through Mark 11:27–12:12, where Jesus confronts the religious leaders who question His authority and then reveals their hearts through the parable of the vineyard. This passage carries a sobering warning for those who reject Jesus and a gracious invitation to all who will come to Him in faith, even those with questions. Learn more about Ekklesia Churches at http://w...

Why does Jesus curse a fig tree and confront the temple, and what does that reveal about our own hearts? Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on 11/16/25.   Teaching Highlights How the fig tree is a living parable of the state of the temple and it's fruitless religion Why Jesus didn’t come to restore the old system, but to replace it with Himself What real faith looks like: trusting God...

The "Triumphal Entry" is actually anything but triumphant, when the worship is empty words, from people who don't know who Jesus really is. Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on November 9, 2025. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem reveals hearts that honor Him with words but not with hearts that believe the truth. True worship recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, not as a means to our own kingdo...

What happens when we stop asking for status and start crying out for mercy? Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on November 2, 2025. Jesus leads the way to Jerusalem, and toward suffering, on the road that leads to the cross. The disciples seek glory, but misunderstand the cost of following Jesus. Bartimaeus, though blind, sees Jesus rightly and asks the only right thing: “Have mercy o...

How do marriage, children, and money reveal the posture of our hearts toward Jesus? Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on October 26, 2025.   Teaching Highlights: Jesus’ teaching on marriage reveals that the problem isn’t the law, it’s the hardness of our hearts, and God’s design for marriage calls both husband and wife to servant-hearted love. His welcome of children teaches that we...

What if greatness in God’s kingdom is found not in power or recognition, but in humility, service, and sacrifice? Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on October 12, 2025. Teaching Highlights: Jesus models humility through His own sacrifice, teaching that the road to glory begins with the cross. True greatness means abandoning our pursuit of self-glory and learning to serve the “least”...

How much faith is enough? In this message from Mark 9:14–29, we explore the difference between the strength of our faith and the object of our faith. The passage shows us that true faith isn’t measured by size or certainty, it’s measured by surrender to Jesus.   Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches on October 5, 2025. Teaching Highlights: In the absence of faith in Jesus, chaos takes over, and...

As we study the Transformation of Jesus, we look at the relationship between seeing the glory of Jesus, and yet how the road to glory is filled with suffering. Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on September 28, 2025. Teaching Highlights: The Transfiguration gives us a glimpse of Jesus’ glory and a preview of resurrection hope. The Law and the Prophets point to Jesus, the Living Word,...

What does it mean to see Jesus, salvation, and discipleship clearly, in light of the cross? Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on September 21, 2025. Teaching Highlights: The healing of the blind man serves as a picture of the disciples moving from blindness to partial sight about who Jesus is. Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ, but still misunderstands what that means for the Messi...

Jesus presses past demands for signs with a deeper question: do you truly see and believe? Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on September 14, 2025. The Pharisees demand a “sign from heaven,” revealing a heart problem, not a sight problem. Jesus warns of the leaven (teaching/heart posture) of the Pharisees and Herod. Proximity to Jesus is not the same as faith; the disciples see and h...

What kind of people belong at Jesus’ table? In Mark 7:24–8:10, we follow Jesus through Gentile regions as he meets outsiders who desperately come to him, and are never turned away. A woman seeks healing for her daughter, a deaf man is given both hearing and speech, and a hungry crowd is fed. All are welcomed by Jesus. Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on 9/7/2025. Teaching Highlights...

What really makes a person unclean before God? In Mark 7:1–23, Jesus confronts the Pharisees and exposes a deeper problem beneath their rituals and appearances: the sinful human heart. Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on Sunday, August 31, 2025. Teaching Highlights: Why ritual practices and appearances can’t cure the problem of sin. How traditions can subtly replace God’s Word in ou...

When you feel weak, inadequate, or overwhelmed, can faith in Jesus really empower you to serve him with confidence?   Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on August 24, 2025. Jesus uses what little we bring to accomplish what only he can do. Like Moses in the wilderness, our insufficiency is the very place where God shows his sufficiency. Jesus reveals himself as God walking on the wate...

In Mark 6:7–30, Jesus sends out His disciples with almost nothing, John the Baptist pays the ultimate price for speaking truth, and Herod rejects the call to repent. Yet through it all, we see that Jesus provides everything we need to remain faithful to His mission. Key Teaching Points: Jesus equips and sends those He calls. Our mission is to faithfully proclaim the gospel, not control the respons...

In this passage, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth, where he is met with astonishment, doubt, and offense instead of welcome. The story of Jesus' rejection in Nazareth is an invitation for us to consider our own hearts, is our relationship with Jesus based on a real response to his invitation? Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on August 10, 2025. Teaching Highlights: The peop...

Do you put your hope in a leader who is powerful, good, or both? This passage from Mark introduces us to two individuals who seek Jesus, one hoping in his goodness but doubting his power, and the other hoping in his power but doubting his goodness. Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on Sunday, August 3, 2025. Teaching Highlights: Jesus is our comprehensive hope in life and death, bein...

Overwhelmed by the chaos in the world? Or within yourself? This passage in Mark shows us that our experience of chaos is ultimately determined by our response to Jesus. Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on Sunday, July 27th, 2025. Teaching Highlights: Jesus offers unshakable peace to those who trust in His power and willingness to save. Jesus is a threat to spiritual opposition and t...

What does the kingdom of God look like? When we look at the world, the church, or even our own hearts, we must first see Jesus clearly to see anything else. Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on Sunday, July 20, 2025. Teaching Highlights: Jesus is "the lamp"—the light by which we see everything clearly. The kingdom of God grows from a small, often overlooked seed, and its growth is Go...

Why do some people respond to Jesus while others turn away? This message explores the Parable of the Sower, the first detailed teaching of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. We’re invited to examine both how we receive the Word and how we participate in sowing it.  Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on July 13, 2025. Teaching Highlights: The sower is generous, scattering the Word widely and with...

What really makes someone part of the family of God? In this longer passage, Jesus calls his twelve disciples, refutes accusations from the scribes, and redefines what it means to belong to him. Originally preached to Ekklesia Churches by Dan on July 6, 2025. Teaching Highlights: Jesus makes disciples, transforming the unqualified into his representatives. The "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" i...