St Marcus MKE Sermons

The lie for this week is “I NEED TO MAKE SOMETHING OF MYSELF.” Hold onto this thought – if Jesus died for the sins of the world, the thing that now separates humans from God is not  sin  as much as it is the  false-righteousness  that we turn to in place of Jesus. One of the great Tim Keller revelations of my life is that even non-believers/other religious repent of “bad deeds,” but only Christian...

The lie for this week is “YOU’VE EARNED EVERYTHING YOU HAVE.” The Bible’s clear teaching is that the sin beneath every other sin, the quintessential sin, is PRIDE. And yet, it’s so powerful, so blinding, that none of us even realizes we’re guilty of it. In fact, the most humble people you know are the only ones truly aware of pride. This week we’re going to do a bit of a character study of arguabl...

The lie for this week is “YOUR FAITH IS JUST BETWEEN YOU AND GOD.” Researcher Robert Bellah wrote in  Habits of the Heart  that 81% of Americans believe that you should come to religious conclusions APART from any religious organization. In other words, the majority of people believe you don’t find God in community. They think you find God on your own. The reality is that Americans today, includin...

On this weekend ahead of the July Fourth Holiday, we reflect on the words in 1 Peter 2:13-17. While our country is far from a perfect and united nation, it is best to celebrate the platform which God has given us to be His leaders; leaders to create a fairer and more just world.

This week’s lie is  “WOMEN AND MEN ARE BASICALLY THE SAME.”  Whether you’re considering chromosomal pairs in a nucleus, sexual organs, or even  brain chemistry , or  behavior psychology , there are OBVIOUS differences between women and men and logical implications attached to those differences. The problem arises, however, when those differences are abused for selfish gain. In other words, the pro...

Just as Jesus calmed the stormy wind and waves while on a boat with his frightened disciples, Jesus is able to still the storms that occur in our daily lives, as well as in our faith. 

This week’s lie is  “MORE MONEY, MORE HAPPINESS.”  Most philosophers and religious leaders throughout history have suggested that contentment is the secret to happiness. And yet, modern research also seems to suggest that $34k/year income is a threshold, and  $75k/year is another income threshold  for happiness. So which is it? Can we be content without X amount of dollars? Should we be content wh...

E Pluribus Unum is printed on our money, inscribed on government buildings, and serves as the motto of the United States of America. The Latin phrase translates to "out of many, one." It was, and still stands for a goal - that despite the diversity of people, there will be a unity, to stand as one. E Pluribus Unum could also be a descriptor for the Christian Church as well. We look to Ephesians 4,...

This week’s lie is  “IF YOU FEEL DEPRESSED, YOU’RE A BAD CHRISTIAN.”  Of anything that I might be experientially qualified to speak on, this is probably it  It’s an unfortunate thing to be able to call your wheelhouse. Nonetheless, it’s something I’ve certainly wrestled with over the years, and a topic on which I’ve continuously found God’s Word to be unbelievably insightful. This week we’ll exami...

There are definite patterns in behavior that change from one generation to the next. Oftentimes, these behaviors and new norms can cause distress and resentment between age groups. In this lesson, we learn to enjoy the diversity of different ages. The day after Palm Sunday, children in the temple courts shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David,” to Jesus, which aggravated the Pharisees and teachers of...

In the first week of a new series, "Satan's Sleight of Hand: The Mostly Untrue Things We Really Need to Stop Believing," we’re going to address one as volatile in relationships as any – divorce. This week’s lie is  “IF YOUR MARRIAGE ISN’T HAPPY, YOU SHOULD LEAVE.”  It’s much bigger than a right/wrong issue in most circumstances. It’s a “lies we believe” issue. We’ll look at what Jesus teaches in M...

The doctrine of the Trinity is a teaching that causes non-believers to perceive Christianity as non-sensical, but is a teaching that compels believers to appreciate a mysterious God who is infinitely greater than we are. 

The account of the first Pentecost gives us an incredible example of the gathering of all of God's people and where they come from. We celebrate the diversity of place and acknowledge that God used this festival day to disperse his believers and the Message into different corners of the world.

This is our 6 th  and final week of  O Church Arise: Modern Lessons from the Story of the Early Christian Church . Much of the talk in the series has been our Christian witness, in both our words and actions. This week we see the pinnacle of a Christian witness in Stephen, the first Christian martyr (the Greek word for “witness” is actually  martyrion ). Fascinatingly, we seek the e...

Today, our cities are full of diverse people from different ethnic backgrounds. Cities in Biblical times, namely Rome, had more diversity than we might have originally expected. In Colossians 4, the apostle Paul encourages us to be wise in the way that we act towards people different from ourselves. Early Jewish Christians were able to form relationships with people not like them and they set an e...

Week 5 of  O Church Arise: Modern Lessons from the Story of the Early Christian Church . In prior weeks, we’ve seen some of the hostility that the Early Church faced from outsiders. But Satan’s attack on Christianity also often comes from within the Church. This week we’ll look at the fascinating account of Ananias & Sapphira, an account in which at first glance, we might be inclined to w...

Inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostle John tells us that we are believers by looking at what God has done for us. We know we are Christians by the love that is motivated by Christ and by faith that can be only be worked by the Holy Spirit.

Week 4 of  O Church Arise: Modern Lessons from the Story of the Early Christian Church . Without question, Scripture makes it clear that one of the factors of the explosive growth of the Early Church was the beauty of early Christian Community. The early believers actually lived like all of their possessions belonged to God, and they were simply managers here on earth for a while. This led th...

The apostle John gives us two tests before we trust that a spiritual message is actually a Christian message. The first test is "What is the message?" and the second test is "Who is the audience?"

Week 3 of  O Church Arise: Modern Lessons from the Story of the Early Christian Church . Last week, we saw a snapshot of what the Early Christian Church, filled with the Spirit, was  doing . This week, we’re looking at the types of things the Early Christian Church was  saying  – what specifically was the message of their witnessing. We find that Peter and John were sharing the...

Week 2 of  O Church Arise: Modern Lessons from the Story of the Early Christian Church . This week we’ll be looking at Acts 2:40-47, the implications of Pentecost. Dr. Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, gives us an amazing portrait of the Early Christian Church. It doesn’t look exactly like the American Church today. Should it? What fueled it to be so different? This week we’ll worship und...

We’re starting a new series this week called  O Church Arise: Modern Lessons from the Story of the Early Christian Church . This week we’ll be looking at Acts 1:1-11, the story of The Ascension. The Ascension, along with Pentecost, are actually the events which give Christians (and the Church) their life’s purpose. Put differently, if you don’t understand Ascension and Pentecost, it’s going t...

This is our final week in the Gospel of Mark series. Our theme will be the  Anointing of Jesus , as we watch Mary of Bethany worship Jesus in an extravagant, offensive (to the onlookers) way. Worship, by definition, is supposed to be inordinate. It’s supposed to be excessive from the world’s perspective. Mary has some amazing things to teach to an American Christianity that sometimes wants to wors...

This week, in the Gospel of Mark, we’re looking at the theme of HUMILITY. The Greeks and Romans never saw humility as a virtue. I would argue America doesn’t either. In fact, I don’t even think we define it correctly. But Jesus says humble service is the road to glory in the Kingdom. We’ll investigate Mark 10:35-45.