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 fo...
Jan 31, 2023•29 min
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 t...
Jan 24, 2023•22 min
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...
Jan 17, 2023•35 min
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 prop...
Jan 10, 2023•27 min
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...
Dec 27, 2022•25 min
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...
Dec 19, 2022•26 min
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
Dec 16, 2022•19 min
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 donatio...
Dec 13, 2022•27 min
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
Dec 10, 2022•19 min
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 gra...
Dec 06, 2022•36 min
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
Dec 02, 2022•16 min
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 ...
Nov 29, 2022•24 min
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…...
Nov 22, 2022•36 min
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...
Nov 08, 2022•30 min
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.
Oct 31, 2022•30 min
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....
Oct 31, 2022•18 min
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.
Oct 24, 2022•33 min
This week we'll be studying Hebrews 9:11-22, under the theme of "The Shedding of Blood." Many people today like the idea of a loving God, but the moment you start talking about bloody sacrifices, they perceive it as an unnecessary and barbaric holdover from ancient, violent people. But what is blood? Why were blood sacrifices necessary for God's people? What is the role of Jesus' bloody sacrifice, and where does blood fit in regarding us as living sacrifices? This text takes us back to the neces...
Oct 18, 2022•35 min
This week we'll be studying Hebrews 4:1-13, under the theme of "Entering God's Rest." Despite our basic needs of life being met in historically unprecedented ways, the average person today reports being more anxious, more isolated, and less rested than at most moments in history. God offers a deep, powerful, soul rest for those who are interested. But it's on his terms, not ours.
Oct 10, 2022•32 min
This week we'll be studying Hebrews 2:5-18, under the theme of "Sharing Our Humanity." God did not hover above earth giving us advice on our problems. He came down in the person of Jesus, experienced life with us, and overcame death for us. He now compels us to similarly enjoin ourselves to the hurt of others in order to bring God's grace and power into their lives. If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive...
Oct 03, 2022•20 min
This week we'll be studying Luke 16:19-31, the story of The Rich Man and Poor Lazarus, under the theme of "God, Our Helper in Life and in Death." If you’d like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here: https://tinyurl.com/stmarcusgive
Sep 26, 2022•24 min
This week we'll be studying Jonah 4:1-11 under the theme of "God's Compassion to Jonah." Most people can tell you there's a fish that swallows a man in the Book of Jonah. Fewer can tell you Jonah goes to Nineveh in chapter 3. But very few can tell you how the book ends, why it's a cliffhanger, and what the major lessons of the book truly are. This week, in the final chapter, God disciples a self-righteously wayward spiritual child, reiterates his love for humanity, and creates in us a longing fo...
Sep 19, 2022•29 min
This week we'll be studying Jonah 3:1-10 under the theme of "Jonah Listens to God." God graciously recommissions Jonah. And Jonah reluctantly carries out his mission with a relatively simple message. But God's Word is effective in ways we can't understand. A nation turns from its violence. And God teaches us important things about the necessity of suffering for saving, the ministry strategy of city, and the ULTIMATE JONAH who entered a city not simply to prevent it from dying, but to die for it....
Sep 12, 2022•36 min
This week we'll be studying a combination of Jonah 2:1-10 under the theme of "Jonah Prays to God." Having run away from God and God's will as central to his life...having endured a self-inflicted storm that threatened the existence of everyone in his boat...and having been thrown overboard to experience the chaotic rock bottom of the sea, Jonah is finally ready to pray to God. Sometimes it takes a lot for us to truly open up to God. Experiencing our failures and God's undeserved goodness certain...
Sep 05, 2022•20 min
This week we'll be studying a combination of Jonah 1:1-17 under the theme of "Jonah Runs From God." Jonah, a prophet of God, had a simple message to give to the city of Nineveh. But he refused to give it. Why? It wasn't the fear you might suspect. Rather, Jonah had a pride, and an idol, of religious nationalism that prevented him from loving humans the way he should. What does it look like for modern people to run from God? And what does God do about it?
Aug 29, 2022•33 min
The Big Idea this week would be to recognize we don't DESERVE relationship with God, but nonetheless HAVE relationship with God by grace, and therefore we're learning to LIVE out of that relationship with God in anticipation of knowing we'll experience it fully in eternity.
Aug 22, 2022•23 min
This week we'll be studying James 1:12-18 & Exodus 20:17-21 under the theme of "The 9th & 10th Commandments - Controlling Desires." In a society that teaches children to "follow your heart" as a life-operating principle, it's not surprising that a word like "COVET" has nearly dropped out of our vernacular entirely. But it's impossible to understand why you do what you do unless you can get to the bottom of why you desire what you desire. Coveting, the last of the commands, is about contr...
Aug 15, 2022•29 min
This week we'll be studying 1 Timothy 5:9-15 & Exodus 20:16 under the theme of "The 8th Commandment: Constructive Speech." Words can be the most powerful weapons in the world. We must take care to use them in the way the God who spoke the universe into creation uses his words - i.e. constructively. And we're saved and motivated to do this by seeing the Word who became flesh take a verdict of condemnation in our place so that we can have an affirmation of grace.
Aug 08, 2022•29 min
This week we'll be studying Luke 12:13-21 & Exodus 20:15 under the theme of "The 7th Commandment: Stewarding God's Stuff." The counterintuitive wisdom of gaining by giving is completely foreign to fallen humans from birth. Jesus spends LOTS of time in the Gospels talking about money - what he does & doesn't want us to do with it. But it's all with the intention that giving fits our design, and brings unique and lasting blessings.
Aug 01, 2022•33 min
This week we'll be studying Matthew 5:27-30 & Exodus 20:14 under the theme of "The 6th Commandment: Navigating Sex & Marriage." By God's design, sex is like a nuclear power in its capacity for good or evil. It can literally create life or destroy life. Only when we submit to God's will do God's gifts ultimately serve as blessings.
Jul 25, 2022•37 min
