Messages
A collection of sermons and messages Mark has given over the years
New messages are added as they become available
Jan 3, 2026, 4:30 PM
We just celebrated Christmas and the miraculous birth of Jesus. Angels, shepherds, wise men! So exciting! But do we really understand who Jesus is? No ordinary man, even with an extraordinary birth, could bring us the Gospel that saves us from sin and promises us an eternity with God in a world completely free from sin and wickedness. In the next few verses of Colossians 1, Paul wants us to be sure we understand who this Jesus really is, and why we can have absolutely certainty in the hope of the Gospel.
Dec 13, 2025, 4:30 PM
This is the Christmas season, and we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s one true Son. One of the customs of Christmas is to celebrate God’s gift to us by sharing gifts with others. We talked about the greatest gift from God these past two weeks: the Gospel itself. But Paul's not done seeking gifts from God for these new believers. Neither should we think we have nothing to offer to God. What gifts can you and I give to the Lord of all creation who needs nothing from us? Let's see if Paul's prayer can give us any insights.
Nov 29, 2025, 4:30 PM
Salvation is a miracle that should fill every one of us who believes with overwhelming amazement! That miracle is rooted in the Gospel. Paul writes in Romans 1:16 (NIV) that he is “not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes….” How a person responds to the Gospel reveals the miracle—or not. It is not their first response to the Gospel that matters most, but their continued response to it. Do they reject it when they first hear it? That doesn’t mean they’ll never come to repentance and faith. Do they receive it with joy? That doesn’t mean they’ve truly understood God’s grace in the Gospel and are forever changed by it. So we need to make sure we’re clear on what the Gospel is and what we’re called to believe. That’s where much of the rest of this first chapter of Colossians leads us.
Nov 22, 2025, 5:30 PM
Hope helps us get through hard things in order to gain better things. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV), Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Hope is a core component of the Christian life. Love is the greatest, but as Paul writes to the Colossians, it is hope that produces love.
Oct 25, 2025, 4:30 PM
How close a relationship does God desire to have with us believers? How does building a close relationship with God differ from a typical best friend relationship? Practically, how can we build the kind of relationship God wants to have with us?
Sep 13, 2025, 4:42 AM
We are all alike under sentence of death. We all deserve to die; we all alike deserve eternal condemnation.
We know we have done wrong, but we look around at one another and easily find someone who has done far worse than we have. So we think we're not that bad. There are really evil people who deserve horrible punishment, but not us. We've done some things wrong, but we're not really evil, just mistaken from time to time. We think we're actually mostly good.
Aug 31, 2025, 5:30 PM
We are called out from the world to live in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, to a life that stands apart from the ways of the world, that might even be considered the exact opposite of what the world believes. Our enemies—the devil, his fallen angels and sin living in our flesh—are hell-bent on keeping us from trusting God and living in His ways. We must stand firm and hold fast to all God teaches and all He wants us to be. He has given us His power and spiritual armor to hold fast to God and His ways, to hold His ground. There is one more piece of equipment He has given for our success: Prayer. It is a powerful tool for our good and the advancement of God’s mission. From Ephesians 6:18-24.
Aug 24, 2025, 5:30 PM
We saw last week that our most basic mission is to stand firm on God’s Word and all He teaches, to hold fast to the Gospel and all the rest of Scripture, to believe it all and live by it. In so doing, as a church, we will be fully equipped and enabled to complete the Great Commission, if not personally, then by the fully-trained members we send out from our congregation. We saw last week that we have access to the power of God and need to take hold of it. In verses 14 to 17, Paul lists more equipment God has provided to everyone who believes in His Son. As we walk through this armor, take stock: Are you missing anything? Does any piece need strengthening? Take note and make plans to close any gaps. From Ephesians 6:14-17.
Aug 17, 2025, 5:30 PM
The word for “submission” that we’ve been reviewing for weeks now comes out of a miliary context. It seems now Paul presses forward into the military illustration to give this fellowship their most basic mission. To preach the Gospel to all creation and make disciples of all nations is the commission given to every believer in Jesus Christ. To accomplish that, it means each generation of believers needs to faithfully pass on all they have received from those who came before them, beginning with Jesus’ Apostles. Thankfully we have the Scriptures and the gift of literacy to help us correct any errors in what was imparted to us by those who came before. Interestingly, the commission Paul gives this church is not the Great Commission, but a commission to stand firm, to hold fast. They are like a fort on the frontier, a beacon of light in a land of darkness. They must not let their light go out! From Ephesians 6:10-13.
Aug 10, 2025, 5:30 PM
We’ve talked a lot about submission and obedience over the last many weeks, in particular who we’re called to submit to, why we’re required to submit to these people, and the importance of our submission to the message of the Gospel. There is one more relationship that Paul is led by the Lord to address: slaves and slave-owners. Through Paul’s teaching, God gives us the character and nature of true submission. It is instruction we desperately need in our day and age. From Ephesians 6:5-9.