The View From 60

Pastor Mark turned 60 years old and prepared a special talk, “The View From 60.”  He shares 6 lessons he has learned from 6 decades of living. Valuable insights combined with Bible truths and personal stories should make this sermon special!

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Outsiders & Insiders

We finish our six-week study of Luke 15 by considering the prodigal son’s older brother. We reach the sobering conclusion that it is possible to be both faithful and obedient, while at the same time, have wrong expectations of God and misplaced affections for those God loves.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline

A Christian View Of The World

When we look at the world around us, do we put on our Christian spectacles first? We welcome Todd Pierce as our guest preacher. He teaches us 3 ways Jesus helps us with our Biblical worldview. Along the way Todd also shares 3 strategies to view our world in the right way. So let's polish those Biblical corrective lens by focusing our attention on Titus 2:11-15.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Resurrection Reality

On Easter we celebrate the greatest day on our calendar - the day Jesus conquered death - for Himself and for all of His followers. Was the resurrection real? Is there any real evidence that would stand up to today’s skeptic? In this sermon we talk about 3 of the most often used challenges to Jesus’ resurrection. Then we pivot to the 4 ways that the reality of resurrection should change us.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download this PDF fill-in-the blanks Sermon Outline.

Loving The Unlovable

Jesus tells us to love everyone, even our enemies. What exactly did he mean by that? Are there any escape clauses? How do we go about loving the unlovable? I challenged us with Jesus’ teachings from Luke 6:27-36. We learn what godly love is not, what it is, and how to live it out.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Love Flow

God's love flows all around us. Sometimes though we don't experience God's love. In this sermon from 1 John 4:16-21, I talk about fear and apathy as blockers to God's love. To experience God's love we must also express God's love.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

The Love Cycle

God is love. In our own ability we cannot love God. What we can do is love Him back! Pastor Todd Pierce, filling in for his brother Mark, explains the love cycle from 1 John 4:7-16. God is love and His love flows! We, who are the children of God, find lasting satisfaction when, and only when, God’s love sacrificially shows up through us to soothe the pain of a hurting world.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download this PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

The Choice To Love

The kind of love God gives to us, and the kind of love he wants us to give to others, is not a feeling. It is a choice. The choice to love is also the choice of remaining in God's light or moving away from God into darkness. In this sermon from 1 John 2:7-11, I teach that God's L.I.G.H.T. provides us the power to love God's way.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Marriage Talk - Husbands

The Bible teaches that husbands should love their wives as Christ loves the church. How exactly can men do this? In this audio version of this morning's sermon, I teach about marriage from Ephesians 5 with lots of examples and helpful suggestions for today’s men.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Unremitting Love

The greatest joy in life is experiencing unremitting love, when someone loves us no matter what. The greatest hurt comes when someone we thought would love us stops loving us. How do we find unremitting love? How do we give unremitting love? Join me as we discover 4 truths about love from 1 Peter 1:22-25.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the fill-in-the-blanks PDF outline.

#91: Called To Be Loved

Our first calling and purpose is to be loved by God! We talk about how wide, deep, long, and high is God's love for us. We learn 5 ways knowing God's love will change our lives. This sermon was given by Pastor Mark Pierce at Church Requel on Sunday, January 12, 2014.

The two videos that I mention in the podcast are "God Loves Us No Matter What" by Soul Refinery and "God's Love For You" by CalMarc.  The two songs used in the podcast are "Because Of Your Love" by Paul Baloche and "The Love Of God" sung by MercyMe.

#083: 3 More Ways To Deal With Difficult People

How do you handle the difficult crazy makers in your life? In this week's podcast, I explain the difference between forgiveness and trust. We consider 3 more Biblical responses. Refuse to play their game. Refuse to cave in. Always take the high ground.

We also catch you up on all the Church Requel news of the week, including a description of how the Christmas concert with Jeff Anderson came about. Lots going on these days at CR! Here's a link to Jeff's website. Here's a link to his Facebook page concert invitation.

This week's podcast music is "I Want Crazy" by Hunter Hayes.

#077: The Divine Dance of Crazy Love

Todd Pierce teaches at Church Requel this weekend. We learn about the Drenched Doormat, the Defiant Dictator, the Desolate Dodger, and the Detached Deserter. Will we choose our way or God's way? One alternative leads us to the Diabolical Disarray. The other leads us to the Divine Dance of Crazy Love!

Music for this weekend's podcast is "Crazy Love" by Hawk Nelson.

#070: My Identity In Christ

When you know who you are in Christ, it changes how you see yourself and everyone else! Pastor Steve Thoman discusses the first three fingerprints of our Christian ID. Also Mark and Steve talk about the book bag giveaway, the record attendance at CR, and Mark's visit to another new church - The Summit Church in  Green, Ohio.

Music for this week's podcast is Praise Like Fireworks by Rend Collective Experiment.

#021: Redemption

In this episode I talk about redemption, what it is and how it should impact us.  We have stories of redemption, both in and out of the church. Catch up with Mary Kay and me and hear about the changes I've made in my online security.

Here's what I have lined up for you this week:

[00:35] Introduction and Chatter - I share how Roc and Kim became such good friends with Mary Kay and me.  I tell the story of how Mary Kay and I had both a Catholic priest and a Protestant pastor officiate at our wedding.  Our 33rd anniversary is next week and we are celebrating with our friends, Roc and Kim.  Then I introduce the content on this week's podcast.

[13:10] Backups, Passwords, and Online Security - I talk about Mat Honan's story of hackers breaking into his online accounts and wiping his Macbook, iPhone and iPad.  I wrote about this last week.  In the podcast I talk a little more about what I've done since and the challenge of changing everything online.

[33:00] Garbage Redemption - Tara Woodard-Lehman, a Presbyterian chaplain at Princeton University, writes about her secret love of garbage, and how her father taught her to restore that which was lost and disposable.  She and her students have created a mosaic filled with broken pieces.

[38:24] Love and Redemption - David Brooks, a columnist for the NY Times, received an amazing essay from an 80-year old man, redeemed by the unconditional love of his wife.  Fifty-five years into their marriage, she developed Alzheimers and he writes about taking care of her.

[50:17] Redeemer Kinsman - Pastor Jon Miller writes about the Redeemed over at SermonCentral.com.  He also takes his Bible references from Ruth 2 and gives us a very good explanation of the connection of redeemer between Boaz and Christ.

[1:04:45] CR Sermon: "Sealed With A Sandal" - This is the replay of Sunday evening's sermon at Church Requel.  Listen as I talk about loyalty, love and redemption.

[1:31:32] Wrap Up - I review what happened at Church Requel Sunday evening and wrap up the podcast.  There will be no podcast next week.  We'll return on Monday, August 27th, with Episode #22.

Music for this week's podcast is "Redeemed," by Big Daddy Weave, from their album, Love Come To Life.

Nothing Will Separate Me From God's Love

Here's what we have queued up in this week's Church Requel podcast.  For those that want to skip right to the weekly sermon, fast forward to the 25-minute mark.

1. Reflections from the Momentum Conference I attended last week
2. Encouraging Conversations and the First Steps Principle
3. Handling Post Sermon Depression Syndrome.
4. The children’s sermon - Kid’s Say The darndest things!
5. This weekend’s talk: “Nothing Will Separate Me From God’s Love”

When God says that NOTHING will separate us from His love in Christ, He means it. In this final message from Romans 8, Pastor Mark explores just how exhaustive and far reaching God's love really is. 

Love One Another

Jesus gave a NEW commandment: to love one another as he loved us.  What are the six credentials that show the world we are really Christ-followers?  Join Pastor Mark Pierce of Church Requel as we study John 15:12-17.

W.O.R.K. at Work

Does our Christian faith actually W.O.R.K. at work? Join Pastor Mark Pierce of Church Requel as we study Ephesians 6:5-9.

Men From Mars

What does submission mean for a husband? What are the three ways a husband should romance his wife? Join Pastor Mark Pierce of Church Requel as we seek the answers to these questions from Ephesians 5.

A Proverbial New Year - Part 2

Pastor Mark completes the study from Proverbs 3:1-12 with the resolutions to fear the Lord, tithe to the Lord, and accept discipline from the Lord.