Tag: Pondering God's Promises

Mark 1:14-15 – Our Life’s (?)Tiny, Timely Lessons about our alleged “Successes” and God’s Long Established Record of Living by His Promises and Fulfillment.

Mark 1:14-15Amplified Bible

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

14 Now after John [the Baptist] was arrested and [a]taken into custody, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of [the kingdom of] God, 15 and saying, “The [appointed period of] time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life] and believe [with a deep, abiding trust] in the good news [regarding salvation].“

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

John’s message of repentance was over; he was in Herod’s prison and soon his life would come to an end and then; time had come for Jesus’ message to begin.

Jesus’ message is not identical to John’s.

John preached about a time to come; Jesus preached that the time had come.

John preached a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; Jesus preached that the kingdom itself was at hand, so believe the gospel.

John did not preach the gospel; he preached that the gospel bearer was coming.

Jesus was the greatest preacher who ever lived.

Do you know the main topic of his sermons?

Jesus’ most important theme: announce the good news of the kingdom of God.

This captured the core of his teaching.

He immediately grabbed the people’s attention – Turn to Him and Him Alone!

By his Baptism, his completed temptation experiences, He boldly announced God had broken into human history and through Jesus himself God’s rightful reign over creation, and human history, and every human being had arrived.

Mark 1:14-15Common English Bible

Jesus’ message

14 After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, 15 saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”

All of Jesus’ sermons, talks, healings revolved around this good news of God’s kingdom coming – “change your hearts and lives, fully trust this good news.”

Mark 1:14-15Authorized (King James) Version

14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Repentance and faith

Jesus preached the gospel, the good news that God had fulfilled his promises to Israel by sending the Messiah, or the Anointed One, to save the people.

As a whole, however, the nation of Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah, because he did not fit the commonly accepted profile of what the Messiah should do.

The Messiah was expected to militarily lead the Jews to victory over the Roman occupation forces and restore the nation to a place of dominance in the world.

Jesus showed no signs of becoming such a military minded genius Messiah.

From his prison cell, even John the Baptist finally began to wonder whether Jesus was really the one sent by God or was another to come (Matthew 11:3).

The Messiah God sent was different from the one the people expected, because God’s purpose in the world was different from what the people expected.

The people expected God to vanquish their enemies by mighty armies of heavily armed followers – utterly crushing all oppressors and make their nation great.

But God’s sole purpose for His Messiah was to make a new covenant with the people, to write his laws in their hearts – to visualize final fulfillment of the law.

In the very midst of their rejection of God’s Messiah, a rejection in which every human shares, God chose to bring all sin to a head, destroy it once and for all.

In that one singular and utterly radical act of turning the pinnacle of all human rebellion and opposition to himself into the means of human salvation, God not only fulfilled all his promises to Israel for their redemption (Acts 13:32-33), but also his word of promise for all the world (Genesis 22:18).

In other words, we are saved by God’s act of salvation on our behalf, not by our repentance and faith.

Were it not for the righteousness and the faith of the Son of God, we would not have repentance and faith.

Our repentance and our faith have meaning only because they are taken up into Jesus’ righteousness and faith on our behalf and given meaning in him, for they neither have even minimal meaning or any identifiable substance on their own.

Not a transaction

It is a popular notion that repentance and faith are two different things.

The idea is that all any person has to do is repent of all his sins, then ask Jesus to come into his life, and then, on the basis of this repentance and commitment to Jesus, God will forgive the person’s sins and grant him eternal salvation.

That is not the gospel.

The gospel is not a transaction.

It is not a deal.

It is not a tit for tat, nor any I’ll-do-this-if-you-do-that arrangement.

When we believe the gospel we are not causing God to save us.

We are not satisfying some prerequisite.

What we are doing when we believe the gospel is trusting God’s word that he has already saved us through what he has already done for us in Jesus Christ.

Our faith enables us to finally and fully and completely and utterly realize, enjoy and 100% embrace the gift we already have; it doesn’t cause God to give it to us.

The gospel is good news.

It is the good news that God loved everybody so much that he did something so completely unexpected to save them from the destruction and alienation of sin.

What God did — send his Son — he did purely and simply because he wanted to, not because we expected something of that nature to happen, did something, or said something, or thought something in our hearts to actually bring it about.

We are saved because God already, in Christ, did everything necessary to make our salvation the reality that it is.

Jesus said, “God so loved the world,” not “God so loved several carefully picked ones.”

For us to repent and believe the gospel is to turn from our empty lives, ignorant of God’s love and grace, and turn to belief in God’s word about who he is for us and what he has done for us in Christ. It is a matter of believing a thing that is already true. And it is a matter of believing it because God tells us that it is true.

From the very beginning (Genesis 1:1) the message of God is always been there!

From the very early days of God’s Prophet Isaiah – we learn of God’s desire for a restoration of our relationship with Him – God’s expressed desire to reconnect:

Isaiah 1:18-20Authorized (King James) Version

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 but if ye refuse and rebel,
ye shall be devoured with the sword:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

That is not a transaction.

It is not a matter of the gospel not applying to us unless or until we do the right thing.

Salvation is not remuneration for repentance.

It is not remuneration for faith.

It is not remuneration for anything.

It is a FREE gift, a FREE gift given to the world is ours, whether we like it or not.

It is a matter of our coming to the senses lost to our sin in the Garden of Eden.

It is a matter of activating our God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit awareness.

Role of faith

To believe that God has given you a gift is not a pathway to receive the gift.

It’s a gift, and it is given by grace, not by saying the magic words. But believing is the path to taking up, using and enjoying the gift. If you do not believe you have a gift, you’ll never take it up and use it, and you’ll never enjoy its benefits.

So it is with the gospel.

The gospel is true for us because God made it true for us.

It does not suddenly become true when we repent and believe.

It does, however, suddenly become plain to us what God has given us when we repent and believe.

And in belief, or faith, or trust, we can walk in the light of our Savior Christ, where we once walked in mindless empty darkness because of our unbelief.

Our unbelief did not mean the gospel was not so for us; it only meant we could not sense it. We were imprisoned in the dark about it, did not know beyond our sin born prison bars, God redeemed us in Christ long before we were ever born.

Redemption

The gospel was fulfilled when the Son of God became one of us for our sakes.

He was the undeniable fulfillment of all the prophecies promised unto Israel (Acts13:32-33), and the very means by which Israel became a blessing to all other nations (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:8).

He transformed the meaning of human life, human history and human time.

All times, from the creation to the end of the world, are redeemed in him.

All of human history — past, present and future — including your personal history, are redeemed in him. Human life itself, including your human life, is redeemed in him, made new, saved (see Colossians 1:19-20; Ephesians 1:9-10).

This is not something we are waiting for — it is fulfilled already, though we do not yet experience its fullness.

We still wait for the redemption of our bodies, as Paul said, when “this mortal shall put on immortality.”

We still wait for the revealing of the new, clean and righteous us, which is hidden with Christ in God and will be revealed with him in glory when he is revealed (Colossians 3:3-4).

But please permit the Holy Spirit to remind you of this: we already walk by faith in the light of the knowledge of the Son of God, tasting and drawing upon today the 100% fulfillment of the reality that awaits us with Christ in the age to come.

Christ has wrought a new creation (see 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15), which we do not, and indeed cannot, yet see in full, but we are definitely part of it. In Christian believers, the age to come has already begun to manifest itself.

Approach

It is this light, the light of the gospel, that we seek to share with all those who still walk in the darkness of unbelief.

When we share the gospel, we are not saying,

“You are hanging by a thread over the fires of hell; say these words and God will change his mind about you.”

Instead we are saying, as Scottish Theologian Rev. Thomas F. Torrance put it,

“Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him…. He has believed for you, fulfilled your human response to God, even made your personal decision for you, so that he acknowledges you before God as one who has already responded to God in him, who has already believed in God through him…in all of which he has been fully and completely accepted by the Father, so that in Jesus Christ you are already accepted by him. Therefore, renounce yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus as your Lord and Saviour” (The Mediation of Christ, page 94).

When we understand the gospel of the unconditional grace of God, we no longer rely upon our faith or our commitment, but upon what Christ has done for us.

Indeed, as Mark’s narrative immediately, succinctly informs and teaches us:

Jesus said in Mark 1:1-14-15, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, change your hearts, and change your life and believe the gospel.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus himself spoke these words immediately before he fully and completely and utterly gave his life for us and died upon Calvary:

John 19:28-30Amplified Bible

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said in fulfillment of the Scripture, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of [a]sour wine was placed there; so they put a sponge soaked in the sour wine on [a branch of] hyssop and held it to His mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] [b]gave up His spirit.

We just need re-ignite our awareness: reason this Gospel truth out with God!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God of all truth and wisdom, sometimes I not sure if I’m actually hearing your voice, or if it’s just my own thoughts or even another spirit. Sharpen my spiritual hearing, Lord, so I can recognize your words when you are speaking to me. Help me know it’s really you, with no doubt or second-guessing. When I’m asking for your guidance in important decisions, grant me your peace that surpasses understanding with your answer alone. Help me remember your words to me will never go against your living written Word in the Bible. Give me a clear mind, push out all of my confusion. Amen.

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Who among us does not long to hear these words pointing them, directing them, to their Living Hope: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World?” John 1:25-34

John 1:25-34Amplified Bible

25 They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize [only] [a]in water, but among you there stands One whom you do not recognize and of whom you know nothing. 27 It is He [the preeminent One] who comes after me, the [b]strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie [even as His slave].” 28 These things occurred in Bethany across the Jordan [at the Jordan River crossing], where John was baptizing.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God [c]who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.’ 31 [d]I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah]; but I came baptizing [e]in water so that He would be [publicly] revealed to Israel.” 32 John gave [further] evidence [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], saying, “I have seen the [f]Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah], but He who sent me to baptize [g]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this One is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I myself have [actually] seen [that happen], and my testimony is that this is the Son of God!”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

John, the Baptizer was born miraculously to aged parents (Luke 1:11-18), had the mission of preparing the way for Christ, the Messiah.

As a Charismatic preacher, he drew great crowds. He denounced people’s sins, called for immediate repentance, and baptized many who turned back to God.

The high point in John’s life came when he was baptizing at the Jordan River and Jesus approached him. John called out, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” He also had exclaimed, “This is the Son of God.”

A low point came, however, when John was in prison and began to wonder if Jesus really was the Messiah (Matthew 11:1-5).

From deep within his prison cell John the Baptist sent friends to find out, and Jesus assured him by saying that the sick were being healed, the dead were being raised, and the good news of God’s kingdom was being preached.

The first time we read the word “lamb” in the Hebrew Testament, the speaker is Isaac, is asking his father Abraham, “Where is the lamb for the [sacrifice]?” (Genesis 22:7).

In the New Testament at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, we see this word again as John announces, “Look, the Lamb of God …”

John pointed us to Jesus, the Son of God, instead of himself, as the Lamb who came to meet our very deepest need by becoming the sacrifice for all our sin.

What truly matters to us is that John identified Jesus not once but twice before others as the Lamb of God and that we understand the meaning. Only through Jesus do we receive salvation. Jesus, God’s son, died a sacrificial lamb for all.

Why Did John Say, ‘Behold the Lamb of God’?

For any devout Jew in the time of Jesus, a lamb would have evoked powerful religious meaning.

Far more than a typical food source in that day, a lamb was considered the most appropriate sin-substitute when it came to making ritual sacrifices, which were a huge part of the role of the Jewish Temple and community tradition back then.

Jesus himself was raised Jewish and came from a long line of Israelites dating back to Abraham, the first major patriarch in the Bible.

Abraham’s son was Isaac, and his grandson was Jacob, from whom the 12 tribes of Israel came. Jesus was descended from the tribe of Judah, a son of Jacob.

They all would have been very familiar with the need to regularly make animal sacrifices to the Lord as a way to atone for their sins, particularly the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb as a way of cleansing, purifying, and honoring the Lord (Exodus 12:3-13; Leviticus 14:10-25).

But when John the Baptist encounters the man Jesus walking towards him in the wilderness, as Jesus is walking toward him, John announces, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, ESV).

Why would John refer to Jesus as a lamb, which was a typical religious sacrifice?

Why a lamb of God?

And what does he mean, who “takes away” sin?

Why did John say, “Behold the Lamb of God”?

https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/jhn/1/29/t_conc_998029

What Does This Text Mean?

In the original Greek used by the Apostle John, who wrote the Book of John, he uses the Greek word ide for behold, meaning “look,” “see here,” or “consider.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2396/esv/mgnt/0-1/

He uses amnos for lamb, meaning exactly that — a young sheep.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g286/esv/mgnt/0-1/

And he uses theos for God, referring to “the one true God.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2316/esv/mgnt/0-1/

He also uses the word airō for takes away, which means “carries away” or “gets rid of.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g142/esv/mgnt/0-1/

He uses hamartia for sin, meaning “wrongdoing.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g266/esv/mgnt/0-1/

And he uses kosmos for the word world, referring to the entire world — that is, the universe, not just the local place in which he is situated.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2889/esv/mgnt/0-1/

Essentially, what John the Baptizer is communicating to everyone nearby:

Essentially, what John the Baptizer is communicating to generations to come:

“Look, it’s God’s lamb who gets rid of the wrongdoings of the entire universe.”

Who among us, right in this exact moment, do not long to hear these words?

Who among us, right in this exact moment, does not need to hear these words ringing and resounding through, into every last empty cell of their their souls?

We’re in constant state of need to hear someone exclaiming “Hope is Possible!”

Hope, indeed our Living Hope is Here – And he is Jesus Christ – The Son of God!

This would have been a powerful and revelatory statement to make about Jesus.

Why Were Sacrifices Important to Jewish Culture Then?

Sacrifices had been prioritized in the Bible since the very first days. Genesis 4:4 talks about how Abel gave the Lord the very best firstborn of his flock of sheep (that is, a lamb), which greatly pleased God.

We also know Jesus’ descendant Abraham was severely tested by God and asked to sacrifice his only son. heir, Isaac, with whom God had promised to establish His covenant and bring forth a multitude of offspring.

Isaac’s apparently innocent question to his father, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7) is a poignant moment between them, for only Abraham knew he was supposed to be sacrificing Isaac upon the mountain.

Father Abraham insisted to Isaac that God would provide, and God did indeed, providing a ram at the last moment for him to sacrifice instead of his own son.

Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy further prescribe animal sacrifices, usually a lamb but also other animals, as a way for the Jewish people to make up for their wrongdoings, providing forgiveness and the removal of sin.

But these were temporary sacrifices.

They had to be done repeatedly — yearly or whenever a person was in need of cleansing from unrighteousness — to ensure good standing with the Lord.

What Was the Context of This Verse, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God’?

In this first chapter of John, we are introduced to John the Baptist, whom the Bible here calls “a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him” (John 1:6-7).

But Scripture is extraordinarily careful to note that John himself admitted he was not the light but rather the precursor to that light, the one who introduced, the one who announced, who pointed us to the light or bore witness in advance.

Like the person, the Master of Ceremonies, asked to introduce the main speaker onstage, John was the introducer; and Jesus was the “keynote,” the main event.

Later in this first chapter of John’s narrative, we are told priests and Levites from Jerusalem asked John who he was, for he’d been baptizing people in the wilderness and urging them to turn from sin.

They asked if he was a prophet or even if he was the great prophet of old Elijah.

No, John said, adding, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:23).

He further added that he was baptizing with water as a way of forging the path to Jesus, so he could bear witness and point Jesus out when the time came.

And indeed, John emphatically added, “I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34).

Does John Actually Say Jesus Is the Lamb of God?

John reiterates twice that Jesus is the Lamb of God, first here, when he’s with the priests and Levites and sees Jesus walking toward him, and then the next day, when he’s standing with two disciples and sees Jesus, he points this out again: “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:36).

Those two disciples included Andrew, who immediately followed Jesus and then went to fetch his brother, Simon Peter.

The two were Jesus’ first disciples and among the 12 apostles.

Make no mistake, John is saying: Jesus is the Lamb of God.

The Apostle Paul describes him later as “Christ, our Passover lamb, (who) has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

What Does ‘Lamb of God’ Mean?

There are two key inferences here. One is that Jesus, as the “lamb” of God, is God’s perfect sacrifice.

Sacrificial lambs were required by Levitical Code to be unblemished, typically the best of the best, pure, and perfect.

They also were innocent — blood, and lives, were exchanged as debt payment.

In His willing sacrifice on the cross, Jesus paid our sin debt penalty “once for all” (Colossians 2:14).

It’s a substitute for sin, the way the people could enter the presence of God, to atone for wrongdoing, and what God was willing to accept to make things right.

John was perhaps referring to Scripture foretold in Isaiah 53:7, where the prophet described the savior of the world as one oppressed and inflicted, a “lamb that is led to the slaughter.”

The other meaning is the lamb being described in the Book of Revelation, the triumphant “Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6).

Did John Know What He Meant Here?

We aren’t told whether John knew what he was alluding to by calling Jesus the “Lamb of God,” especially as later he seemed doubtful and sent word asking if Jesus really was the one who was to come (Matthew 11:3).

That doesn’t really matter, though, for sometimes people speak words of the Lord without understanding what they fully mean, such as in prophecy.

What matters is that John the Baptizer clearly identified Jesus not once but twice before others as the Lamb of God and that we understand the meaning.

John the Baptizer’s intent and meaning are very clear! Only through Jesus do we receive salvation. Jesus, God’s son, died a sacrificial lamb for all (John 3:16), but only those who genuinely repent, believe and follow Him receive that salvation.

We must understand that Jesus is the only way — indeed, as the Apostle John later notes Jesus as stating, “The way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

So, behold, all reading this piece — Jesus is Lord, Word become flesh, the Living God, our living Hope whose innocence, purity and perfect, divine nature paid the price of our sins forevermore so we who believe may live forever with Him.

He did this for you, for me, and for us all.

He is the Lamb of God, and we are His.

John the Baptizer repeatedly proclaimed him ….

Can any of us here claim that we repeatedly proclaim the exact same sentiment?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Most Holy and Gracious God,

You have enriched and enlightened us by the revelation of your eternal Christ. 

Comfort us in our mortality

and strengthen us to walk the path of your desire,

so that by word and deed we may manifest the gracious news

of your faithfulness and love.

Most Holy God, Giver of every Good and Perfect Gift,

Divine Father of the man Jesus who asked the disciples,

“What are you looking for,”

and who offered the invitation to “Come and See,”

open our hearts to what you reveal and give us the courage to follow. 

By Your Spirit aid us in our journey,

so that like John the Baptizer, our words and deeds point to the Lamb of God. 

For those who are suffering, let us likewise point to Christ through comfort. 

For those who are hungry, let us point to Christ through the giving of bread. 

For those in the grip of despair, let us point to Christ through our example of hope.

Almighty God,

whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world:

Grant that your people, illumined by your Word,

may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory,

that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth.

We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God in Three – now and forever, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Who of us does not long to hear these exact words from our God right now: “You are My Child, in whom I love; with whom I am well Pleased?” Mark 1:9-11

Mark 1:9-11 New Living Translation

The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus

9 One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. 10 As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him[a] like a dove. 11 And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

We might think that the world-changing and history-making beginning of Jesus’ ministry would begin with a major announcement.

We might even reasonably expect that this history making event would come out as a big deal—like when a nation’s president or prime minister is elected.

But the heavenly declaration that opens Jesus’ ministry is rather low key.

It is also rather private, personal and extraordinarily intimate—Jesus had not announced himself yet gathered any disciples or followers to witness this event.

It was a deeply personal event exclusively meant for exchange between a father and his son – a father and son moment – with meanings deeper than we know.

What’s more, the heavenly power does not swoop in like a great eagle with exposed talons, swooping in while it is shrieking at the very top of its lungs.

You do not get the idea it was meant to be observed by human eyes and ears.

Instead it is described as gently arriving like a dove.

The Spirit of God, who had hovered over the waters of creation (Genesis 1:2), similarly graces the person of Jesus, giving us an unmistakable sign that a new creation is getting under way and this new effort will also be good, very good.

Mark’s gospel has an emphasis on showing the reading audience who Jesus is.

He is the Servant of All and He is about to immediately begin His ministry and His mission of making a difference, if not THE difference in the affairs of man.

The first eight verses of Mark focused on the immediate anticipation of Jesus’ arrival.

Remember that the gospel opens calling for people to literally drop every last priority they have, immediately begin to prepare the way for the king’s arrival.

The blessings of the Heavenly King … Humbly Clothed in His Divine Majesty …

Let all the Earth Rejoice … Let all the Earth Rejoice …

Everything, if not everybody in your life is immediately about to be changed.

Every circumstance is about to become immediately subjected to redemption.

Your life is about to be strengthened – thy self-esteem about to be maxed out.

Get hyper-excited because thy salvation is about to become genuine reality.

Immediately answer for yourselves this question: HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD?

Get your hearts and souls ready by confessing your sins because the mightier, indeed very the mightiest One is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

One question that we have when we come to the baptism of Jesus is why was he even needed to baptized?

The answer is in verse 9: we see the humble king of all created things quietly arriving, slowly processing into humanity, for his royal coronation ceremony.

Open your versions of God’s word to Mark 1:9-11 to see this coronation scene.

Here in the Gospel of Mark we are given the heavenly insight that Jesus is the unique and truly loved Son with whom His Father God is beyond well pleased.

Today’s highlighted verses tell us about God’s great love for His Son Jesus and how, as He came up, out from the water He has expressed His love for His Son.

We see God’s wonderful expression of deep affection and deep pride in Jesus.

It must have been a beautiful, inspiring moment and blessing to each of them.

The great thing about this event is this: Jesus has immediately provided each of us with the blessed assurance of both God’s great favor and abundant delight.

Christ’s death on the Cross not only paid the price for our sins, it also opened up the way to the loving-kindness and great goodness of God. Just as the Father was proud of His Son, God can now cherish and embrace us in the same way.

Are not these the words we all need to hear from the ones we love the most?

Look at what was being said by Father God: “I completely claim you as my child! I completely, utterly love you! I am fully, utterly completely max pleased with you!”

The Father shared these incredible affirmations with his Son.

And by extension, our Father God shares these incredible affirmations with us.

In the subsequent verses, the man Jesus will face the temptations of Satan in the wilderness armed with the understanding his Heavenly Father lovingly and proudly claims him as his child – those words infusing Jesus with God’s might.

You know, when we were baptized,

I cannot help but believe my God immediately quietly expressing the very same fatherly sentiments about you and me – with the exact same degree of His love!

In this moment, what does that thought immediately do for your self-esteem?

No matter what you or I think of or about ourselves, here is a wonderful hint:

OPEN WIDEST THOSE EYES OF YOURS, GIVE GOD YOUR “GOD” SMILE NOW …

God has entered the affairs of all mankind, come into the world with the loving intention of bringing about a new creation that includes you. What in your life needs to be re-created by the transformation and blessings of Savior Jesus Christ?

Jesus himself declares in Chapter One verse 15: “The time has come. . . . The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and (hardcore) believe the good news!”

No matter who you are or what you’ve done; no matter how you’re feeling or what you’re going through right in this exact moment, please know this: You are a beloved child of God, lifted up by His grace, and cherished by Him forever.

Just a Quiet, Timely Reminder of Exactly Whose Beloved Child You Are?

He was the Son of God.

He was the Son of Man.

He came down from heaven.
He was born in a stable.

Kings came to his cradle.
His first home was a cave.

He was born to be a king.
He was a child of Mary.

He was the greatest among rulers.
He was the least among servants.

He was loved and honored.
He was despised and rejected.

He was gentle and loving.
He made many enemies.

He counseled perfection.
He was a friend of sinners.

He was a joyful companion.
He was a man of sorrows.

He said, “Rejoice.”
He said, “Repent.”

“Love God with all your heart.”
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

“Don’t be anxious.”
“Count the cost.”

“Deny yourself.”
“Ask and receive.”

In him was life.
He died on a cross.

He was a historic person.
He lives today.

He was Jesus of Nazareth.
He is Christ the Lord.

He was with God in the beginning of all created things because He is God!

And there is exactly NOTHING the darkness of sin and death can do about it!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

ABBA, My Loving and adoring Father, I know I do not merit your love and grace. Yet, dear Heavenly Father of mine, I am completely and utterly overwhelmed with them and beyond thankful for the abundance of them. As your beloved child, please know that I love and adore you… even in those times when I make wrong choices and also when I succumb to temptation’s power. Father, do not ever let the evil one strip my love for you from me or let him cloud my eyes to your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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The Ministry and Mission of Jesus Begins: Two Kinds of Wildernesses. Numbers 14:26-35 and Mark 1:11-15

Numbers 14:26-35Amplified Bible

26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who murmur [in discontent] against Me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they are making against Me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just what you have spoken in My hearing I will most certainly do to you; 29 your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, even all who were numbered of you, your entire number from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me. 30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, not one of you shall enter the land in which I swore [an oath] to settle you. 31 But your children whom you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they will know the land which you have despised and rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your sons shall be wanderers and shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness (spiritual infidelity), until your corpses are consumed in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of days in which you spied out the land [of Canaan], forty days, for each day, you shall bear and suffer a year for your sins and guilt, for forty years, and you shall know My displeasure [the revoking of My promise and My estrangement because of your sin]. 35 I, the Lord, have spoken. I will most certainly do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed [by war, disease, and plagues], and here they shall die.’”

Mark 1:11-15Amplified Bible

11 and a [a]voice came out of heaven saying: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased and delighted!”

12 Immediately the [Holy] Spirit forced Him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted [to do evil] by Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered continually to Him.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

14 Now after John [the Baptist] was arrested and [b]taken into custody, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of [the kingdom of] God, 15 and saying, “The [appointed period of] time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life] and believe [with a deep, abiding trust] in the good news [regarding salvation].”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The wilderness is a place that captures the imagination and stirs the soul.

Native Americans, for example, will journey into the wilderness on a vision quest; thrill seekers will flock to the mountains and remote places in search of adventure; those who are overworked will retreat there for peace and solitude; and Christians will even go camping in the wilderness for the purpose of fasting and praying, confidence building exercises, for adventures, looking unto God.

The wilderness just innately seems to continuously beckon unto people.

Jack London authored a book entitled The Call of the Wild, and Country Music songwriter John Denver once asked, “Does the call of the wild ever sing through the midst of your dreams?”

In the Hebrew {old} Testament, King David declared,

“Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, and remain in the wilderness” (Psalms 55:6-7).

There’s an intrinsic romanticism concerning the wilderness.

In the physical sense, it represents peace and finding oneself.

In the spiritual, however, it can represent confusion and becoming lost to oneself, and realizing a deafening silence from God.

Whenever the Lord allows His children to enter a spiritual wilderness, there’s nothing very romantic about it! The wilderness is a place one hopes to flee!

I once read a story about a distinguished painter who was conducting a class for aspiring artists.

He was speaking to them on the subject of artistic composition.

He emphasized that it was wrong, for example, to portray a wooded area, a forest or a wilderness, without painting into it a path out of the trees.

When a true artist draws or paints any kind of picture, such as a landscape, he always gives the picture an “out.”

Otherwise the tangle of trees and the ceaseless, endless, trackless spaces will depress and dismay the onlooker.(1)

(1) Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations, in Logos CD-ROM, version 2.1E (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996).

The same thing can happen in your spiritual life whenever you feel as though you’re in a wilderness.

If life ever appears as a tangled mass of branches under a dark leafy canopy or a vast expanse of dark forest with no obvious way out, then you can become down and discouraged, and even seriously distant in your relationship with the Lord.

Somewhere along your spiritual journey you might enter a season in life where you will feel as though you are deep in a vast wilderness with no way out.

In this message, I am going to compare and contrast two possible reasons why you might enter a wilderness period, and prayerfully show you and me how to make it through to the other side; as we try to compare and contrast following Jesus and both the “sin-driven wilderness” and “Spirit-driven wilderness.”

A Sin-Driven Wilderness (Numbers 14:26-35)

Sometimes when we have a wilderness experience in our life, it’s the result of sin.

This is called a “sin-driven wilderness” – one where you are driven into the wilderness because of “your own” sin. This is what happened to the Israelites.

The Bible says in Numbers 14:26-35:

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.”

“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in’.”

“‘But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection’.”

“‘I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die’” (Numbers 14:26-35).

The Lord said, “The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness” (Numbers 14:29).

The sin mentioned in these verses which resulted in the Israelites being driven into the wilderness was “complaining against God.”

Complaining was just one manifestation of hearts an souls and spirits that were full of sin and lacking in even a minimum measure of faith in God’s deliverance.

Since (I believe anyway) we have studied this passage before, this is a bit of a review; however, a review is necessary to get to the heart of the message.

In Numbers thirteen, we read where the Lord sent twelve spies from the tribes of Israel on a reconnaissance mission into Canaan to check out its bounty.

When they had returned, they reported how it was a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord had promised to them; however, they also brought back a seriously negative report of how the land was occupied with giants whom they could not overcome. This is when they began to become fearful and complain.

In Numbers fourteen, we read where they refused to go forth and possess the Promised Land as God had commanded, and they attempted to select leaders and return to Egypt. The only ones who were faithful were Joshua and Caleb, who both repeatedly tried to encourage the people that the land could be taken.

The Israelites refused to possess Canaan and the people were sentenced to wander in the wilderness forty years, until all who were twenty-years-old and above had perished.

The Lord told Israel, “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you” (Deuteronomy 8:2a).

This particular sin-driven wilderness served as a test for the people of Israel.

Whenever you enter a sin-driven wilderness, you need to realize that it’s your sin that has driven you there – your sin – and not the Lord.

It is not a God-driven wilderness, but a sin-driven wilderness.

Whenever we enter a wilderness period because of our own sins, what happens is you and I are allowed to suffer from the wrong choices of our sin, and too be tested by the consequences of sin – just how long do we allow ourselves to hurt?

The Bible says that sin leads to death (Romans 6:23).

It was sin that resulted in the first man and woman being evicted from the Garden of Eden.

In a sense, the sin-driven wilderness is a form of punishment, because God allows it to happen when He could actually intervene; but ultimately it is a person’s own fault for winding up there through their own disobedience to God.

Whenever you find yourself in a sin-driven wilderness it’s because the Lord is allowing you to be purged of sin and purified. The Lord allowed Israel to enter the wilderness in order for the generation that sinned to perish and die out, so that Israel would be purged and cleansed of her negative and rebellious attitude.

The Lord will allow you to enter the wilderness in order to be chastened and cleansed of sin, so that you will emerge on the other side as a different person, and hopefully a better and more faithful follower.

Hebrews says, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (12:11).

A wilderness experience will either make or break you.

You will either grow closer to the Lord or become distant from Him.

You might feel like Evan Baxter on “Evan Almighty,” when he said,

“[Lord], I know whatever You do, You do because You love me, right? Do me a favor: Love me less.”

When you should inevitably ever enter the wilderness experience because of sin, be sure to permit the experience to refine you into pure gold tried in the fire.

Job 1:20-21Amplified Bible

20 Then Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head [in mourning for the children], and he fell to the ground and worshiped [God]. 21 He said,

“Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb,
And naked I will return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

A Spirit-Driven Wilderness (Mark 1:12-13)

Sometimes when you have a wilderness experience it’s the result of sin; however, there can be other times when you enter the wilderness even though you’ve been faithful to the Lord.

This is likely a “Spirit-driven wilderness” – one into which the Holy Spirit leads you.

Even Jesus underwent a Spirit-driven wilderness.

The Bible says in Mark 1:12-13:

Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him (Mark 1:12-13).

We read how “the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness” (Mark 1:12).

Over in the book of Matthew, we read, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (4:1; cf. Lk 4:1-2).

It was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness.

The apostle John had a similar experience on the island of Patmos,

for he said of the Lord,

“So He carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness” (Revelation 17:3).

These are not isolated examples in the Bible.

In Nehemiah, we read concerning Israel’s exodus from Egypt,

“You did not forsake them in the wilderness . . . [but] gave Your good Spirit to instruct them” (9:19-20); and in

Isaiah we read, “[God] led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, that they might not stumble. As a beast goes down into the valley, and the Spirit of the Lord causes him to rest” (63:13-14).

It was the Holy Spirit that drove Israel from Egypt into the desert, and then onward toward the Promised Land.

The Israelites actually endured both a Spirit-driven and sin-driven wilderness during the exodus:

Spirit-driven Wilderness – First, the Holy Spirit drove the people into the desert (a wilderness-like place) as they made their exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land.

This was supposed to be a short-lived experience, for it was only an eleven-day journey to Canaan.

Sin-driven Wilderness – Later, however, when the Israelites sinned by refusing God’s command to go forth to possess Canaan, they were sentenced to wander in the actual barren and remote wilderness for forty long and very hard years.

It’s one thing to enter a wilderness as the result, or consequence, of sin.

This can sometimes seem more understandable when it happens.

You can arrive at a time and season in your life, examine your life and say,

“Oh, it all makes sense now! I can remember the time when God asked me to do this or that, and I was disobedient and did my own thing. Now I know I’m being humbled mightily and I accept I need to be chastened for my sin by my Savior!”

The concept of a sin-driven wilderness seems easier to grasp than the Spirit-driven wilderness.

Some of the most confusing and defeating times in life can be the ones in which you have been fully, completely faithful to do what God asked of you, and then you either trip and do a “face plant” or land flat onto your back in a wilderness.

When you enter a wilderness period, and you know deep in your heart that you’ve remained faithful to God, then it’s likely that you have entered into a Spirit-driven wilderness.

The Israelites had remained faithful to the Lord while they were in Egypt, and they had all their basic needs met.

Daily provision meant that God’s favor rested on them.

Once in the desert, however, their stability was shaken and they questioned and cried why they had ever left Egypt and the provision they once had (Nm 11:4-6).

All at once they suddenly wondered where “all of” God’s inevitable favor had gone. When the Spirit drove them out into the desert it didn’t make any sense!

The Israelites probably wondered what they had done wrong.

They very likely felt that God had been unkind to them by forcing them into the desert to leave all the provision of Egypt.

A collective thought process similar to one like this: “If only I/We had kept their focus on the primary reason why I/We, was/were being led out!”

When the Holy Spirit pushed them into the desert it was because the Lord had a much better place in store for them down the road!

When you find yourself in a wilderness period even though you’ve been faithful to the Lord, it’s easy to feel like you’ve done something wrong and it’s easy to complain; but if you know deep in your heart you’ve been obedient to the Lord, then you must be in the wilderness because the Holy Spirit has put you there.

If the Holy Spirit has led you there, into a time and a season for “hitting the reset button on my life” then you can rest assured that it’s for a good reason.

Why was Jesus led into the wilderness?

The answer is “to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1).

This temptation was a test for the “Son of Man” in order to try Jesus’ spiritual stamina to remain faithful to the Lord in the midst of the temptation to sin.

This test also proved to Satan that he couldn’t touch Jesus.

The wilderness served to demonstrate to us Jesus’ faithfulness, and it resulted in an encounter with the Father’s presence as “the angels ministered to Him” (Mark 1:13; Matthew 4:11).

When you an I enter a Spirit-driven wilderness, the every same thing will likely happen to us.

You will grow spiritually and grow closer to the Lord.

What seems like an unfair thing, to enter the wilderness when you’ve remained faithful, can actually have an indescribably abundant and beneficial end result.

What seems like a bad thing might just be a display of God’s love, for the Lord says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19).

Biblical Commentator John MacArthur says,

God’s plan and purpose [is] to use Satan’s temptations as a means of testing and strengthening our faith in Him and of our growing stronger in righteousness. God allows testing in our lives in order that our spiritual “muscles” may be exercised and strengthened. Whether the testing is by God’s initiative or is sent by Satan, God will always use it to produce good in us when we meet the test in His power.

 John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Matthew 1-7 (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1985), pp. 87-88.

You might even be driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit in order to receive some much-needed rest.

Jeremiah said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness, Israel, when I went to give him rest’” (Jeremiah 31:2).

Jesus advised His disciples, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).

Sometimes your faithfulness to the Lord can result in some harsh persecution and stress in your life as you take a stand for Jesus Christ.

For example, in today’s context, consider any pastor who has taken a stand against sin in his congregation, and has become physically and emotionally drained. He has taken great abuse for the Lord and has remained faithful.

Then one day, out of the blue, he finds himself blind-sided as he is asked to resign from his church.

He then loses his ministry, his purpose and his livelihood, and then enters a wilderness.

He/she could then become incredibly frustrated, angry against their fellow Christians, as it doesn’t appear to make any sense; but actually it does!

The Lord could be “forcing” them to take a much-needed break, as He refreshes them and works to slowly restore their passion and love for Him and His people.

If anything similar to this has happened in your own life, then take heart!

God sees your faithfulness, and you’re in the wilderness for the very reason that the Lord God is doing some cleansing and hardcore refining, a new work in your life!

God is growing you, God is handling you, God is maturing you and God is preparing, refining you, for something else and for a closer walk with Him!

Keep your focus on the Lord while you’re in the wilderness and do not lose hope!

Oswald Chambers said, “If God gives you a time spiritually, as He gave His Son . . . of temptation in the wilderness, with no word from Himself at all, endure it; and the power to endure is there because you see God.”

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, in Logos CD-ROM, version 2.1E (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1989).

Time of Reflection

Do you feel as though you’re in a wilderness right now?

If so, then ask yourself, “Am I in the wilderness because I’ve been disobedient to the Lord, and have sinned against Him?”

If you can genuinely and with your whole heart and soul answer “yes” to this question, then you need to confess your sin and ask God for His forgiveness.

The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

If you should examine your life and you can’t identity any known sin, then ask yourself, “Am I in the wilderness even though I’ve been faithful to the Lord?”

If you can answer “yes” to this question then try not to become discouraged.

Psalm 37:27-29Amplified Bible

27 
Depart from evil and do good;
And you will dwell [securely in the land] forever.
28 
For the Lord delights in justice
And does not abandon His saints (faithful ones);
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked will [in time] be cut off.
29 
The righteous will inherit the land
And live in it forever.

The Lord has not forsaken you.

The Lord God is upholding you while He is resetting you, while He refines you.

In fact, you’re likely in the wilderness because Father, Son and Holy Spirit led you there in order for you to achieve that more intimate encounter with God.

How will you an I respond to the wilderness?

Will you and I gripe and complain, or will you and I gracefully endure until the Lord molds and refines us, into the man or woman of God that He has planned?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

My God in Heaven, everything has crumbled around me. Everything has collapsed deep beneath me. Everything has burned above me. My God in whom I strive to trust more, Yet You remain! I call out to You to save me. Lord, You have never failed those who hope in Your name. In Jesus, You have demonstrated Your great love for me. Regardless of this illusion of hopelessness, grant me the grace and strength to be hopeful for I know of the coming days of glory. In the hope of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

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The Ministry and Mission of Jesus Christ Begins. About our Faithful Discipleship, about being able to Identify with Jesus. Mark 1:9-13

Mark 1:9-13 Amplified Bible

The Baptism of Jesus

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 [a]Immediately coming up out of the water, he (John) saw the heavens torn open, and the [b]Spirit like a dove descending on Him (Jesus); 11  and a [c]voice came out of heaven saying: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased and delighted!”

12 Immediately the [Holy] Spirit forced Him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted [to do evil] by Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered continually to Him.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The first chapter of Mark has it all. God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Angels and even Satan are all compacted here in the very same place at seemingly the same time, during the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and Jesus’ temptation by Satan.

The presence of John the Baptist arriving on the scene was the sign, the signal, and the moment that told the man Jesus to leave Nazareth, begin his ministry.

So, the Narrator Mark, speaking to his audience of readers, begins to present to them a step by step recitation of first introducing Jesus, then relating to readers a strong recommendation how they are to respond to God and this Good News.

First – Recognize that these Word’s of God are the Truth of God – spoken by God and are therefore trustworthy and true. God is active and attentive to their need.

Second – Recognize that God Himself, through His Son Jesus Christ, through His messengers -God’s Prophets Isaiah and Malachi through John the Baptizer has a prophetic message of promise and fulfillment for them – God needs them!

Third – God through His Son Jesus Christ, through His Messenger Mark, is now in need of their fullest possible attention – begin to shape the Kingdom of God.

The called of God, those children of God, in the first century moment respond – “We hear God – we believe on His Son Jesus Christ, what must we do now?”

A great expression of affirmation of faith followed by and even greater question.

Mark’s response is to follow in the example set by John the Baptist and Jesus:

Mark 1:9Amplified Bible

The Baptism of Jesus

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

First: Come willingly from wherever you are and recognize the authority of God.

Second: Make a decision to service unto the Kingdom of God and your neighbor.

Third: Recognize the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ over your entire life.

Fourth: Fully, Maximally, Utterly, Surrender the entirety of your life unto God.

Fifth: Present your whole body as a living sacrifice unto Christ and get baptized.

God needed His Son, the man, Rabbi Jesus to be “seen of man by man,” baptized as the necessary first step or visual sign of the beginning of his earthly ministry.

As one commentator said: It was a moment of decision; it was a moment of identification; it was a moment of God’s approval; was a moment of equipping.

Mark 1:10-11Amplified Bible

10 [a]Immediately coming up out of the water, he (John) saw the heavens torn open, and the [b]Spirit like a dove descending on Him (Jesus); 11 and a [c]voice came out of heaven saying: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased and delighted!”

When he Jesus, came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

A voice, and a message for the people came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son, whom I am delighted in, in whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

This is one of the only places in the Bible where all three persons of the Trinity are in the same place at the same time communicating to those who are there!

Immediately Connecting, Immediately Relating, Immediately Identifying with:

The most significant moment of all – the first Moment of “God’s First Contact!”

This makes it one of the more important events in Jesus’ life and the people’s.

By visualizing the moment – the people are visualizing connecting their lives with God in the same way – to hear the exact same words Jesus heard from God.

“You are my beloved children, whom I am delighted in, in whom I love and with whom, by this act, your choice of obedience – to this baptism – I am well pleased!”

The people visualize, gain their most important “first impressions” of the man: why they should sacrificially, willingly, joyfully, utterly graft their lives into his.

The man, just like every other man present in the moment – the man, Jesus is immersed into the every day events of humanity, subjected to all the very worst.

Sixth: Repent and Prepare the entirety of yourself for maximum service by God.

Mark 1:12-13Amplified Bible

12 Immediately the [Holy] Spirit forced Him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted [to do evil] by Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered continually to Him.

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. “…and he was in the wilderness forty days, being mercilessly tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and all during that absolute worst misery: “the angels attended him.”

Here we see that Jesus was tempted and triumphed, something humanity could not do because mere man couldn’t overcome the worst of the worst absent God.

The people visualize that despite the worst of the worst – Jesus endured it and did not surrender one ounce of his faith in God – did not yield to Satan 1/8 inch.

The people can visualize for themselves that the worst of the worst is a definite possibility when they are seen as being for Jesus Christ and not for the Emperor.

But we can visualize ourselves enduring that worst of the worst because we can visualize Jesus doing it.

When the worst of the worst arrives, we can identify with it and instead of our submitting to the inevitability of being overcome by it – we identify with Jesus.

We visualize Jesus being continually administered to by the Angels.

We visualize ourselves – during our own worst of the worst – being continually administered to by the Angels also.

We identify with the moment of continuous comfort because it’s God’s promise.

It is God’s faithful promise of His continuous presence and continuous comfort.

Because: “The Word of God for His Beloved Children” is the absolute TRUTH!

We identify with God.

We identify with Jesus.

We identify Jesus with God

We identify Jesus’ victory over the very worst Satan can throw at us.

We identify with Jesus’ victory over the very worst Satan can throw at us.

Through that identification we can endure all things through Christ who is our strength through every single “worst of the worst” circumstance Satan inflicts.

Our faith remains sure and our faith remains strong, steadfast and immovable.

We are united in Christ, so that his victory might be our victory; so that when we are tempted, we can look to him and the living example Jesus first set for us.

Why was it important for Mark to provide these details?

Mark wanted to stress to his readers that Jesus is the only road to salvation.

The Maker of Heaven and earth declared His only begotten Son, Jesus to be his anointed one, His chosen one. He is real; He is credible; He is alive in us today!

Through these four rather short verses from the Gospel of Mark’s narrative ….

First: we can immediately identify with the absolute truth of that reality!

Second: we can immediately identify with the absolute truth of His credibility!

Third: we can immediately testify to the absolute truth of His being 100% alive!

Fourthly: we can immediately identify with the love of God and Jesus’ efforts towards preparing us for our ministry, mission: finish the Great Commission!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord God, Father to my Savior Jesus Christ, my Way-maker, my promise keeper. I know you have a destiny for me to achieve in this life. I want to follow the plan that you have laid out. Help me to understand and follow your call. Show me your will for my life and what I need to do right now to get started. Enable me to know who I am in Christ alone, and the special gifts and abilities you have given me. Give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation as I seek to know you more intimately. Amen.

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The Only Place to Begin when we do not know where to Begin. Mark 1:4-8

Mark 1:4-8Amplified Bible

4 [a]John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins [that is, requiring a change of one’s old way of thinking, turning away from sin and seeking God and His righteousness]. 5 And all the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem were continually going out to him; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a [wide] leather [b]band around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he was preaching, saying, “After me comes He who is mightier [more powerful, more noble] than I, and I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the straps of His sandals [even as His slave]. 8 As for me, I baptized you [who came to me] with water [only]; but He will baptize you [who truly repent] [c]with the Holy Spirit.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Where did the Gospel actually begin?

Where did God’s Good News originate?

Narrators Matthew and Luke began their accounts of Jesus’ life with the stories surrounding his Genealogy an his birth.

Narrator John began his narrative before the creation of the world where the Son of God was not only present, but he also did the creating.

Mark, with his focus on Good News, chose to begin in a different place.

If folks are going to be open to the Good News of God, then someone is going to have to be a servant and prepare the way for Jesus to come and for his word to be heard. In many respects, the Good News always begins in this way.

The real question is whether we are willing to be used as servants like John the Baptist — who is introduced in verse four — and immediately, if not sooner, to begin to prepare the way for Savior Jesus’ Good News to be heard by our friends.

The next question for the reader of Mark’s narrative then becomes …. where do you immediately begin, when you do not know where to immediately begin?

A very valid question to ask when an immediate response to change is required.

At work, your supervisor suddenly hands you an outline for major project with major financial implications for your company which has never been attempted before – and the supervisors instructions are: I need this ASAP, as in 7 days!

With that kind of pressure and responsibility on your shoulders, ever sat and stared at a blank piece of paper or computer screen, wondering where to begin?

Any sort of task or project always has a beginning, and sometimes starting can prove a challenge especially when there is no previous effort to be inspired by. 

You can further complicate this situation by being the first person to do it.

That is what Mark faced.

His written story of Jesus will be the first ever!

Perhaps his narrative will serve as a model, inspiration for any future writers.

Mark 1:1-3Amplified Bible

The Preaching of John the Baptist

1 The beginning of the [facts regarding the] good news of [a]Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written and forever remains in the [writings of the] prophet Isaiah 40:1-4 and Malachi 3:1-3:

“Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way—
3 
A voice of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
[b]Make His paths straight!’”

So far, Mark has hit us with a big (seemingly logical) opening sentence,

“The Beginning of the [facts regarding the] Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Then used an Old Testament quote from the writings of God’s Prophet, Isaiah. 

The Old Testament quote, while making sense to Bible scholars, may or may not be the one to immediately grab your or your supervisors undivided attention.

I noodled over Mark’s choice of those first verses because I believe there is no superfluous material anywhere in the Biblical Canon.

All the words are there because God’s intention is that every word speak to his children – every word of every verse, however obscure it (they )may be – is the source of an important life lesson for someone, somewhere and at some point.

2 Timothy 3:16-17Amplified Bible

16 All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; 17 so that the [a]man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

In the process I reached a “Holy Spirit inspired” conclusion.

The divinely inspired conclusion: Mark wants to make sure we understand that Jesus coming to planet earth is huge AND has always been a part of God’s plan.

Later Narrators, such as Matthew and Luke, will accomplish this drawing on Jesus’ birth and lineage. Mark made the same point with much fewer words.

Now Mark, in his typical “get to the point” style starts with Jesus’ ministry—and Jesus’ ministry begins with his baptism by a fella named John the Baptist.

As I read and continually re-read verses 4-8, and know John the Baptist’s story, I’m again getting that one feeling that it is easy for me to rush past these verses.

Let’s not

– because God put it there for His own very specific reasons. (Isaiah 55:10-13)

John the Baptist’s current modus operandi is that of an Old Testament prophet.

He wants to make sure the people of his day understand what is happening.

We would also be well advised to give our immediate, if not sooner, attention to first engage God in prayer, then come to the divinely inspired understanding;

Amid a world where things are wrong: 

  1. God is definitely coming (immediately, if not sooner) to put things right.
  2. People, even (or especially) religious people, need to therefore get themselves fully turned around to the ONLY “right way around”. They need to repent.

John the Baptist notes differences between himself and Jesus.

First, that he is not worthy to untie the strap of Jesus’ sandal.

Second, that his baptism is with water while Jesus’ will be with the Holy Spirit.

He is immediately saying, “Don’t look at me (a mere man), look at Jesus!”

Look at Jesus Christ – “THE SON OF GOD!”

I began this reflection with,

“Wondering where to begin when you do not know where to begin?”

I noted Mark immediately began with the FACTS and TRUTH of Jesus’ ministry. 

Yet, you might say that he started his Gospel about Jesus, with us in mind. 

With you and with me!

Truth is: and a whole lot of other people the future writers of Hebrews noted:

Hebrews 12:1-2Amplified Bible

Jesus, the Example

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of [a]witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, 2 [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, [b]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].

YES! And with very single generation of believers who have gone before us and every single generation of believers who will come after us – (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Narrator Mark wants to make sure that we more than merely understand the immediacy of his message of connecting and relating to what is happening in our world, and God’s plan for it all—but that this message penetrates and changes us. 

We will in the coming days of Jesus’ ministry see some people as onlookers.

Mark suggests they will be immediately impressed by Jesus, but they will also immediately recoil at his new teachings, stay an arm-lengths distance away. 

The question for us:

Will we be mere onlookers, standing aside, pondering curious points of the text, googling different versions, and even allowing ourselves to be distracted by curious characters, such as John the Baptist – as critically important as he is?

(It is so easy to do when we engage the whole length and breadth of Scripture.)

Or will we let God’s Word penetrate our hearts?

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”

The Choice is always are to make ….

The immediate question is – when we aren’t sure if it is the right place to begin;

Search first for the TRUTH of God – is it YOURS or is it a divinely inspired one?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Creator God in this your exact time and in this your exact season
dangling, suspended between all of our hopes and your fulfillment,
let we never come any moment, to forget what you have done.
May we be immediately overwhelmed by your great mercy,
which flows in tsunami after tsunami from your Truth alone.
May we be decisively honest about the darkness of sin within us,
and immediately perceptive of the light of Salvation around us.
May we begin, to prepare to make straight the path for the Lord,
that together we may immediately see God’s glory revealed.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Mark 1:1-3 Recognizing the Place to Begin: Our Acknowledgment of our own Need to Turn our lives around.

Mark 1:1-3Amplified Bible

The Preaching of John the Baptist

1 The beginning of the [facts regarding the] good news of [a]Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written and forever remains in the [writings of the] prophet Isaiah:

“Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way—
3 
A voice of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
[b]Make His paths straight!’”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

“Are we there yet?”

Parents will often hear these words repeated several times from their children as their family travels on a long trip—or even a short one to the grocery store.

On school field trips, bus drivers will hear these words chanted by the teachers trying to keep the children interested and busy and engaged in the days events.

Sometimes, even us more mature adults will mimic these children as we go on planned shopping excursions with a group from one of our community centers.

Adults generally just want to have fun they have that awareness that they will eventually get to their destination by the time promised by the bus company.

Young, younger children, however, have an underdeveloped sense of time and distance that prevents them from understanding how long a journey will take.

Both God’s young, younger, youngest, maturing and mature adult children often have an underdeveloped sense of the obvious and not so obvious gap that definitely exists between their lives and God’s kingdom vision too.

Whatever stage of human development we are at, we would like to think and we would love to believe that we are each decent people who just need a few minor adjustments – a tweak here and a little tweak there, to become ‘right with God.’

We might just find ourselves rationalizing, “If I lose a little weight, try a little harder to be nice to my neighbors, and “if I budget better, give a little money to this and those charitable causes, then I’ll finally, really have my life together.”

In reality, there is much more that keeps us from recognizing God’s ideals.

Clean House is a home makeover and interior design television show, originally broadcast from 2003 until 2011 which aired 10 seasons of programs on the Style Network.

Clean House is a reality television show about three trained specialists who go into homes that are a mess.

In each episode, there is clutter everywhere.

In some homes there is so much junk that visitors must remain standing because the furniture is covered, indeed, buried, under all kinds of stuff.

The Clean House specialists face the challenge of convincing the residents to get rid of their junk.

And the strange thing often is—even though it makes their lives miserable, they yet remain reluctant and adamant don’t want to get rid of the clutter!

You and I can be the same way in our relationship with God and our neighbors.

We say we desperately want to clean things up, and we can see what’s got to go.

But so often we cling to things that make life miserable for us and for others.

The distance between speaking our “promises,” actually bringing them to the stage where we’re visibly pursuing and ideally engaging in them is significant.

Since sin entered the equation way back when on the Garden of Eden, resulted in our being unceremoniously thrown out, cast away from all of God’s ideals,

God created such an immeasurable, undefinable gap between His ideals and His beloved children yet still desired relationship- to keep His beloved children from straying too far and irretrievably away God, directly into a lifelong journey down Satan’s path, created within us an innate sense of emptiness and longing.

One day, God knew, His beloved children would want to return to His Ideals – on a 24 hour a day, seven day a week, every single last moment – permanent basis.

But God also knew His beloved children would need His help if they desire life under the most ideal circumstances anyone could ever dream, hope to imagine.

So, with an indescribable charity, God sent His Son into the world to save them.

John 3:16-17Amplified Bible

16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.

Except there was one inescapable truth God knew needed to be addressed first:

John 1:9-10Amplified Bible

9 There it was—the true Light [the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light] which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. 10 He (Christ) was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.

The gap between God, His charity and His ideals, His beloved children and their charity and ideals, was so great as to be fully, completely and utterly unrecognizable.

The distance between God’s ideals and humanity’s ideals was so great that Jesus could not merely come into the world without an advance preparation.

The arrival of such a one to “prepare the way of the Lord” was prophesized:

Malachi 3:1-3Amplified Bible

The Purifier

3 “Behold, I am going to send My [a]messenger, and he will prepare and clear the way before Me. And the Lord [the Messiah], whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; the [b]Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s soap [which removes impurities and uncleanness]. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi [the priests], and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord [grain] offerings in righteousness.

As promised from Malachi 3:1-3, God sent someone to get us ready for him.

John the Baptizer, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, came to help people recognize that the sin condition of this world needed a major turnaround.

He called God’s people to repent, to experience a new way of life (not just a few minor adjustments) that would be signified in baptism.

John the Baptizer was sent ahead of Jesus, helped people to realize the problem with their idea of life before they could be prepared to see the solution in Christ.

In the opening verses of Mark, we meet John the Baptist.

John the Baptizer was God’s appointed messenger, a specialist whose task was to get people to “clean house,” to get prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ.

John’s message was simple: “Repent!”

To repent means to recognize the moment for change, turn back to God and confess our sins, clear the junk out of our lives, do what God’s Word teaches.

There are at least Five Basic Points From Mark (Mark 1:1-3) for us to learn from.

Wait a minute. How can anyone get 5 points from 3 verses? 

This is the beauty of Mark’s simplicity.

It is jammed packed.

Because it is so succinct, we miss much of Mark’s message of “preparation.”

Before I sketch out the 5 points, let’s first consider the narrative text.

It is largely an Old Testament quote – Malachi 3:1-3.

Mark does not use many of these, so when he does, we should really prepare ourselves to stand up, wake up, an gear ourselves up to give maximum notice. 

“As it is written” is a phrase that prepares us for the quotation.

It is not immediately about Jesus, but about John the Baptist.

The point?

Something new and exciting and life and earth and heaven shockingly different has moved from the distant horizons of time to the forefront of human activity:

This gospel is new, truth is coming, and it has been part of God’s plan all along.

For four hundred years it has been prophesized through Malachi’s prophesies.

We never know God’s timing.

Sometimes it seems as if he moves quickly.

Other times, God requires us to be patient.  

God requires our most immediate attention because God’s Truth has finally arrived and the facts and God’s messenger – John – are all presented here.

Now onto those 5 (five) critical to learn points. 

  1. Capturing the word gospel allows Mark to make a point. The Good News is a historical event. The Good News of Jesus Christ is no longer an abstract idea. It is definitely not fiction, not anyone’s made-up story. It undeniably happened.
  2. It happened by being born in flesh and blood. Jesus, the Christ. The Good News inextricably connects the perfect ideals of God to flawed ideals of humanity—to us. Briefly, life isn’t always the worst possible news – Jesus Christ is Good News.
  3. Its brevity is free of any window dressing. In its raw- in your face, matter-of-fact opening statement, Mark immediately communicates the Good News is basic and uncomplicated and from beginning to end, from start to finish – from Alpha to Omega – the absolute God spoken maximum truth.
  4. While basic, this Good News is not an out-of-the-blue sort of thing. No, the Good News is inexorably connected to God’s Plan from the start of all ages.
  5. Mark’s hard-hitting introduction is not meant to teach or inform. We are left wondering what he means by presenting this unadorned, eternal, basic plan of God, which took place on earth- connecting God to humankind, to us. The true answer: The Good News is meant to prepare us for God’s call and challenge us. 

The Gospel calls to us to turn and follow.

The Gospel challenges us to prepare for something enormous and miraculous.

The Gospel challenges us to prepare ourselves and our neighbors to live for God.

Mark led by the Spirit of God is brilliant.

His use of the word’s gospel, Christ, and Son of God delivers points #1 – #3.

Point #4 is delivered by the use of the Old Testament quote. 

Taken together, with its brevity, it is a call and a challenge.

The question is: Are we now prepared to actually prepare ourselves for God, to be prepared by God for service to our Neighbors – preparing them for His life?

God patiently awaits our response ….

And presents to us the Gospel of Mark for us to actually begin our preparation to prepare to give to Him our well prepared response to His covenanted summons.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

God of surprises you call us
from the narrowness of our traditions
to new ways of being church,
from the captivities of our culture
to creative witness for justice,
from the smallness of our horizons
to the bigness of your vision.
Clear the way in us, your people,

that we might call others to freedom and renewed faith.

Jesus, wounded healer, you call us
from preoccupation with our own histories
and hurts to daily tasks of peacemaking,
from privilege to pilgrimage,
from insularity to inclusive community.
Clear the way in us, your people,

that we might call others to wholeness and integrity.

Holy, transforming Spirit, you call us
from fear to faithfulness,
from clutter to clarity,
from a desire to control to deeper trust,
from the refusal to love to a readiness to risk.
Clear the way in us, your people,

that we might prepare all our neighbors to know and live the simplicity, the beauty and indescribable and undeniable power and danger of the gospel.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Do we need a New Beginning? Do we need a Fresh Start with God? Mark 1:1

Mark 1:1 Amplified Bible

The Preaching of John the Baptist

1 The beginning of the [facts regarding the] good news of [a]Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Sometimes, the truth is directly in front of our noses – things just need to end – despite all of one’s very best intentions, and “maxed out” maximum efforts, they have reached a point where things can go no further – but they need to.

A job which has no promotional future – that “dead end” job.

A job which is unfulfilling – we have been in it for a long time, dissatisfied, no amount of joy no matter how hard the effort being made to turn things around.

Not meeting our personal educational or family financial goals ….

A wrong career path ….

We have reached an age in life where developmentally, we cannot help but feel the need to try something new, something exciting, invigorating, challenging.

A relationship with some place, something, someone which is not mutually fulfilling or just plain became abusive to either one or both parties involved.

Perhaps we have come to that place in life where we realize that relationship is us unsuccessfully trying to get along with ourselves in a world of uncertainty.

Wrong choices made at the wrong times …. which has caused someone we care about very deeply – to feel betrayed, unloved, immeasurable needless distress.

Poor decisions now being lived out through lasting undesirable consequences.

We are just feeling empty, spiritually unfulfilled in too many ways to count.

Nowhere to turn ….

No place to run ….

No one to turn to ….

No one to trust ….

No more drugs and no more alcohol …. all the bottles are broken and empty.

This vessel we occupy called our body – our flesh and bones – broken, empty.

Life Sentence in a “maximum security prison of our own design and strength.”

Sick and tired of being sick and tired ….

Where do the descriptions end?

Where does the new life, the fresh start in life begin?

When does the new life, the fresh start begin ….

From our state of brokenness – from our state of utter emptiness, with such a severe distrust of everyone and everything reigning and ruling over our souls,

What else is there to try – what else is left for us to literally risk “everything we do not believe we have left to risk – in a “life or death struggle winner take all?”

Perhaps the answer is … the very Creator of our Life, the Author of our life itself!

The question we all dare need to ask ourselves – Do we need a fresh start with God?

If you do, the opening verse of the gospel of Mark has something for you.

It speaks of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to offer new beginnings to all who seek God’s mercy and strength in a time of need.

Mark’s opening words to his narrative remind us of the first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

When all which came before was being defined, ruled, by unimaginable chaos.

God spoke into that undefinable, unimaginable, immeasurable chaotic mess.

And afterwards everything which came into existence, which proceeded from the mouth of God, which was created by God, was declared by God “to be good!”

Mark apparently wanted his readers to remember that God is present and at work in the beginning of all good things.

When God created the world, everything was good.

But Adam and Eve sinned against God, and things began to go wrong.

But that was not the end of the story, for God immediately set out to restore what was broken and lost, and his work centered on the coming of Jesus Christ.

What does this mean for us?

Well, we know God loves us and did not turn away from his rebellious creation.

God directly and decisively came into the world, entered (barged) into mans affairs through His Son Jesus, to save us from our sin and its consequences.

Because Jesus came to die in our place, paying the price for our sin, all who with their whole hearts confess and believe in him aren’t under sin’s curse anymore.

They are given a new beginning,

and that is what the gospel (“good news”) is all about.

Have you received a new beginning through Jesus Christ?

Is it time for you or I to consider a new beginning, a fresh start through Jesus?

Here are 3 signs God is calling you to start fresh in a certain area of your life:

1. If Guilt Has Been Hindering us from Moving Forward and Thriving in Life, The truth of Scripture is this: God Wants us to Embrace a Fresh Start with Him

Please read this carefully: I want us to be careful when using the phrase “fresh start” because as Christians we must always remember our “righteousness” in God’s judgement is based on Jesus Christ alone and never upon our own works.

One reason humans crave a fresh start is because we want the chance to do things right on our own – under our own “acceptable terms and conditions.”

We want a clean slate so we can have a chance of keeping our slates clean through our own flawed logic and severely flawed ideas of ‘our’ lack of sin.

But this is not the Christian way. 

For as Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians succinctly teaches each one of us;

Philippians 3:8-9Amplified Bible

8 But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him [believing and relying on Him], not having any righteousness of my own derived from [my obedience to] the Law and its rituals, but [possessing] that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

So the necessary first step of embracing your fresh start with God is:

by our fully embracing, surrendering ourselves to the truth, that no matter what has happened in our life, no matter what sins we have committed, we are still righteous before God if you have placed your whole faith in Jesus Christ because your righteousness is now based on Christ and not your own actions.

With that being said, even when we know these biblical truths intellectually, the actual real life lessons of our actual real life experiences can feel very different.

As Christians, even though we are fully righteous in Christ because he has justified us through our faith, we can still be burdened with shame and guilt because of the lingering memories, ongoing consequences, of past mistakes.

God does not want this for us.

So if you have committed a sin that you keep thinking about and is holding you back from living the life you know God wants you to live, it’s time to let that go.

The choices cannot be undone –

Decisions cannot be undecided

Consequences will forever still be the consequences we have to live into …

Now is absolutely the right time, God’s Kairos, to embrace God’s grace:

Psalm 103:11-13Amplified Bible

11 
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence].
12 
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 
Just as a father loves his children,
So the Lord loves those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence].

If you have confessed it with your whole heart (Romans 10:9-13)

and repented, it’s over …. FOREVER ….

2 Corinthians 5:16-19Amplified Bible

16 So from now on we regard no one from a human point of view [according to worldly standards and values]. Though we have known Christ from a human point of view, now we no longer know Him in this way. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. 18 But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him], 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].

God’s grace is ALWAYS and ABSOLUTELY enough, 

Romans 5:20-21Amplified Bible

20 But the Law came to increase and expand [the awareness of] the trespass [by defining and unmasking sin]. But where sin increased, [God’s remarkable, gracious gift of] grace [His unmerited favor] has surpassed it and increased all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness which brings eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God’s grace is greater than our guilt. Lay it down. God has forgiven you if you confessed it (1 John 1:9).

You now need to forgive yourself, live in His Grace and start fresh with the Lord.

2. If Too Many Rules and Obligations Have Sucked the Life Out of You, It’s Time to Start Fresh with the Lord

As Christians, our journeys often start with an immense sense of freedom and joy when we realize we are not saved by obeying the Law but rather through faith in Jesus Christ and by God’s grace alone.

However, what too often happens as we begin to walk the Christian path is that we begin to subtly or not so subtly, overtly, covertly, start picking back up those self same rules and regulations that by His resurrection, Christ set us free from.

While God definitely want us to read our Bibles, pray daily, go to church, take communion, serve others, obey a whole host of other biblical commandments, God doesn’t want us to return to our old self-defeating ways, become legalistic.

Now that we have been saved by God’s freeing grace, we do not have to obey his commands out of fear and with a religious spirit.

Rather, now we can obey God’s commands because we want to, because it is a joy, and because we know it pleases the Lord.

If you have lost that perspective and have begun to dutifully obey the Bible rather than out of the freedom Christ has given you, this is a definitely a sign God wants us to reconsider our “self-defeating ways” start fresh with him.

The path forward is not to now throw away your Bible and act like there are no commands God tells us to follow.

Rather, the key is to embrace the freedom you have in Christ that has nothing to do with your obedience to the law.

When you and I know that you and I are free because of the free gift of Christ, you and I can obey God from a different spirit.

You can obey him out of freedom and not out of obligation.

Galatians 5:1Amplified Bible

Walk by the Spirit

5 It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which you once removed].

Galatians 5:13-14Amplified Bible

13 For you, my brothers, were called to freedom; only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the [a]sinful nature (worldliness, selfishness), but through [b]love serve and seek the best for one another. 14 For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].”

So if the overly complex, hard and inflexible “bondage” of rules and obligations have made you feel “chained” enslaved, to an old and outdated system of living and loving and stolen your freedom in Christ, it is definitely time to start fresh.

Just make sure you are starting fresh in the name of God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit – not in some new manifestation, same old wardrobe of worldly backwardness.

Embrace God’s grace.

Obey God …

not in order to be saved by him but because you already are saved by him.

3. If the Circumstances in Your Life Are Giving You a Fresh Start in a Certain Area of Your Life, This Is a Sign God Wants You to Embrace This with Him

Recognize sometimes we don’t need a total fresh start in every area of our lives.

Sometimes our walk with God is going great and we just need to keep growing with him.

What we often need is just a fresh start in one specific area of our lives like in the area of raising newly teenage children, our physical health, or our careers.

God is in control of everything, so if the circumstances of your life are panning out in a way where you have the chance to start fresh in an area you know you really need a fresh start – don’t fight it, embrace it.

For example, if you know your children are entering “dating life” and you remember your own efforts way back when was an utter mess for awhile but God had cleared the deck and there is now one relationship (wife) in your life,

see this as a fresh start with sharing a new facet of life with your child and a new life lesson for you both to be cherished and experienced with the Lord.

Or if you lost your job and now you are needing a new one, this can be a fresh beginning of learning, working on something even better than what you lost.

In short,

if you lost something in life, perhaps it is God’s Kairos, God’s time! God allowed that loss to happen to you because he wanted to get excited, to give you the new opportunity to start over, completely a fresh with him in that area of your life –

As much as you may or may not realize, desire or not desire, a deeper, fresher connection – relationship with God, with Savior Jesus through the Word of God:

The beginning verses of The Gospel of Mark immediately gives each one of us uniquely Christ Centered Kairos moments to immediately kickstart our hearts:

Mark 1:1Amplified Bible

The Preaching of John the Baptist

1 The beginning of the [facts regarding the] good news of [a]Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord, my teacher, sometimes I find that I am too often confused when I need to make important decisions about my life’s work, my relationships with myself, my family and my friends, my health, or finances. Too many times I have failed and have failed very badly and the consequences are ever before me, plaguing me with their “finger pointing” and soul piercing eyes. Show me the way I should go when I just don’t know which way to turn. Help me remember to come to you, rather than trying to figure everything out on my own. Guide me along the best pathway for my life. Advise me and guide me, Shepherd over me. Help me to listen to your guidance and not resist it. I thank you that your unfailing love surrounds those who trust you. My God, Thank you for these Kairos opportunities to start afresh through thy Son. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Lets Simply Begin by Entering into His Story: The Beginning of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Mark 1:1

Mark 1:1Amplified Bible

The Preaching of John the Baptist

1 The beginning of the [facts regarding the] good news of [a]Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

We humans love to hear and tell stories.

When our children are young they ask mommy and daddy to read them their bed time stories – they want and desire our presence before they go to sleep.

We tell them, we read to them the same stories which had become our favorite stories which our own parents read to us every night when we were that young.

Sometimes we looked to our Grand Parents to tell us the stories of their youth, when they were the ones who were our age – we love to hear how they grew up.

We love to hear of their experiences, we want to partake of their wisdom, how they had “fun” in their day, what music did they listen to, where did they travel.

Sometimes we go to our Grand Parents first instead of our parents because we have stories we believe in our hearts we cannot or could, should not tell them.

Perhaps we are in a place where we do not trust our parents with our stories.

Telling and Sharing our Stories breaks the monotony of the “ho-hums” and the “hum-drums” of our own thoughts, our excruciatingly boring circumstances.

We tell them at work about bosses who think too much of themselves.

We tell stories to friends who give us feedback with laughter or tears or other stories in return. We tell stories around kitchen tables with families and friends.

The man, Rabbi Jesus entered into the lives of those first century Jews just by quietly walking into the moment, so often without any formal announcement.

What we do not read in the Gospels is this man, this Rabbi Jesus, does not raise his hands, clap his hands loudly together or raise his voice – “Yo! Here I am!”

Subtlety is his hallmark way of introducing himself into the life of the moment.

Matthew 5:1-2Amplified Bible

The Sermon on the Mount; The Beatitudes

5 When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His [a]disciples came to Him. 2 Then He began to teach them, saying,…

Jesus “saw the crowds” and without shouting “Hey, everyone, I see you!” he quietly went up the mountain and he quietly sat down, His went to Him absent any verbal summons from their Rabbi’s mouth, then he began to ‘teach’ them.

Luke 4:14-21Amplified Bible

Jesus’ Public Ministry

14 Then Jesus went back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread through the entire region. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised and glorified and honored by all.

16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18 
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah),
Because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy),
19 
to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the favor of God abound greatly].”

20 Then He rolled up the scroll [having stopped in the middle of the verse], gave it back to the attendant and sat down [to teach]; and the eyes of all those in the synagogue were [attentively] fixed on Him. 21 He began speaking to them: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing and in your presence.”

Coming out of His hardcore, deeply intimate temptation experience, He walked out of the wilderness, full of the Holy Spirit and straight into earthly ministry.

The “news abut him spread throughout the entire region …”

And he ‘began’ teaching in their synagogues …

He returned to his home in Nazareth, where he had been brought up and raised by His parents, His grandparents … heard their stories told and retold to him.

And “as was His custom …” “he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath …” and without him giving their leadership a chance to introduce him as an “Itinerant Rabbi” … he just quietly stood up … and instantly made his presence known.

Without any verbal or unspoken complaints for “being rude,” they handed Him the Scroll of God’s Prophet Isaiah, and without challenging Jesus’ credentials, they permitted him to take authority and full command of the sacred moment.

The man, Rabbi Jesus, without asking or saying “thank you” exercised that full and complete authority “granted (or surrendered) to him and read God’s Word.

John 1:1-5Amplified Bible

The Deity of Jesus Christ

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word ([a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and [b]the Word was God Himself. 2 He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. 3 All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. 4 In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines on in the [c]darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].

We have these words from the Gospel Narrative from John …

“In the Beginning [before all time] ….”

Telling us in no uncertain terms, Jesus is THE WHOLE STORY …. has always been THE WHOLE STORY and Jesus will forever remain THE WHOLE STORY!

We have the relating of these stories from ‘the beginnings’ of the Gospel’s of Matthew and Mark and Luke and John in the hopes we will “enter into them.”

God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit place these stories in front of us – in the sure and constant hope – our lives will be changed by entry.

God enters our lives by way of the myriads and myriads of these biblical stories.

We become truly human by taking these Words of Jesus’ stories into our lives.

Author Karen Lee-Thorp aptly remarked, “Most of the Bible consists of stories. Why? Partly because God knew people that like and remember stories better than lists of abstract propositions. And even more important, the stories remind us that all of life is His story, and that God is never an abstract doctrine, but a Person.”

The Narrator Mark begins his gospel account with the story of Jesus, not moral principles or ethical concepts. We enter into life with Jesus by way of the first words of this story, we first find our Jesus in the story of God’s salvation for us.

John the Baptist begins the story by telling us about Jesus.

But John the Baptist is only a part of the preface of this great story that begins quietly but immediately proceeds, is about to not so quietly unfold before us!

So we find that the beginning story quickly moves on to tell about Jesus, the promised Messiah, and his saving message: the good news of God’s kingdom.

Every story about Jesus also helps us recognize our own stories of sin, grace, and blessing. The gospel is the main story, and it shapes the stories of us all.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God of surprises you call us
from the narrowness of our traditions
to new ways of being church,
from the captivities of our culture
to creative witness for justice,
from the smallness of our horizons
to the bigness of your vision.

Jesus, wounded healer, you call us
from preoccupation with our own histories
and hurts to daily tasks of peacemaking,
from privilege to pilgrimage,
from insularity to inclusive community.

Holy, transforming Spirit, you call us
from fear to faithfulness,
from clutter to clarity,
from a desire to control to deeper trust,
from the refusal to love to a readiness to risk.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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The Beginning of the Facts Regarding the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man. Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-8Amplified Bible

The Preaching of John the Baptist

1 The beginning of the [facts regarding the] good news of [a]Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written and forever remains in the [writings of the] prophet Isaiah:

“Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way—
3 
A voice of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
[b]Make His paths straight!’”

4 [c]John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins [that is, requiring a change of one’s old way of thinking, turning away from sin and seeking God and His righteousness]. 5 And all the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem were continually going out to him; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a [wide] leather [d]band around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he was preaching, saying, “After me comes He who is mightier [more powerful, more noble] than I, and I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the straps of His sandals [even as His slave]. 8 As for me, I baptized you [who came to me] with water [only]; but He will baptize you [who truly repent] [e]with the Holy Spirit.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

For everything under the sun – there is a time and a season.

For everything under the sun – there is a beginning and there is an ending.

For everyone under the sun – there is a time and a season.

For everyone under the sun – there is a beginning and there is an ending.

And then there is Jesus, the Son of God – the Son of Man who was there in the very beginning, by whom and through whom all things were created, He was continually existing, all things came into existence through Him, and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being – Fathom all of that!

In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men.

He was there in the beginning of all things – Co-Eternally with God the Father.

And of His Kingdom – there shall be NO END. (Luke 1:33)

He has NO ending – He is Eternal – Forever and Ever – Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Like all of the Gospel writers – they tried to Fathom the eternal Son of God.

Like all of the Gospel writers – they tried to communicate their understanding of the eternal Son of God, to the everyday men and women of their times, to a specific targeted audience – they desired for the everyday person to know Him!

Like all the Gospel writers Mark introduces us to Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God and prophesied Savior of the world, but we discover Mark’s specific focus is upon the humanity of Jesus, as servant of all – and the divinely appointed name of “Jesus’, which is specifically linked with His humanity, His name specifically means “God is Salvation’.

Luke 1:26-38 Amplified

Jesus’ Birth Foretold

26 Now in the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin [a]betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming to her, the angel said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was greatly perplexed at what he said, and kept carefully considering what kind of greeting this was. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Listen carefully: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and eminent and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin and have no intimacy with any man?” 35 Then the angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a cloud]; for that reason the holy (pure, sinless) Child shall be called the Son of God. 36 And listen, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. 37 For with God nothing [is or ever] shall be impossible.” 38 Then Mary said, “[b]Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel left her.

The personal name “Jesus’ was given to Him at the time of His birth, for He will be great and eminent and will be called the Son of the most high and God shall give Him the Throne, God and shall save His people from their sin, He himself shall redeem a lost world by means of His sinless life and substitutionary death.

And although the Lord Jesus was the eternal Son of God, and equal in honor and glory with the Father.. Mark announces the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ from the human perspective – tracing the gospel of Jesus from His lowly birth in a lowly stable unto His glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven.

While Matthew wrote his narration to identify Jesus as the Jewish messiah and King of Israel, Mark’s narrative audience was primarily to the Romans, where their connection, relationship to Jesus is portrayed to them as the Servant of all.

John’s principal desire was to emphasize the deity of the eternal Son of God, while Luke’s narrative aim was to bring out the empathetic ministry of the lowly Son of Man – but from the beginning.. Mark’s emphasis is on Christ’s servant-hood, for we read that: even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:35-45)

The gospel of Jesus Christ continues today and will extend into the eternal ages to come, and Mark simply records the beginning section of this good news.

From the beginning Jesus was the prophesied child of an everyday common woman of her times and her seasons and declared to be the promised Saviour..

Who came at the appointed time to tabernacle in the world with His creation. He came as the suffering servant of God, Whose life, death, burial and resurrection would be good news for all who would trust in His sacrificial death for salvation.

The Gospel Narrator Mark tells us all of Jesus’ historical beginning – when the eternal, uncreated God stripped Himself of the glory He had with the Father and stepped into time, by taking upon Himself mortal flesh and becoming a man.

And throughout His life the man Jesus demonstrated the only way humanity can live in fellowship, relate, connect, with a holy God:- by saying and doing those things He heard from the Father – by abiding in the Father; living in total dependence upon Him – and walking in complete obedience to the Father’s will.

Although Christ was the eternal Son of God… we discover Him to be the humble servant of God, Who walked in spirit and truth, lived in humble submission to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit and became servant of all – so that by His coming, by His life, His death, His burial and His resurrection, all who believe on Him should not perish but be saved by grace through faith in HIM.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ continues unabated, unhindered, unashamedly, to this day and we who have made our heartfelt full throated confession, came to belief, trusted in Him as Saviour, have been made ministers of this good news.

Let us tell of this glorious truth, locally and abroad, of the glorious truth of the Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ Who came, gave His life as a ransom for many.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

My Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word and the wonderful truth that it contains. Thank You that Jesus set aside His heavenly glory and took upon Himself the humble status of a Servant of all.. so that He could identify with our humanity and pay the price for our sin – a price that we are unable to pay. Thank you for this Gospel of Mark, through which the common man may find a way to relate and to connect and identify with the deity He has always had. I pray that I may follow in His footsteps and live in humble submission to Your Holy Spirit all the days of my life, and only do those things that I hear from Your – this I ask in Jesus name, AMEN.

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