I am glad to be able to post the sermon this week. The snow and storm in my area turned out not to be as bad as expected. Instead of 12 to 18 inches of snow, we received about six inches. It has been very cold though. There are many people in the US south and southeast that had a lot of ice, and the power is still out. We all need to pray that these folks get the aid and the help that they need.
Starting a couple of weeks back, we started a new series where we are going through the Gospel of Mark. I am taking my time with this series so that we can really get into the life and message of the Lord Jesus.
Last week, we saw that Jesus was baptized by John. Jesus was affirmed by the voice of the Father, and the Spirit in the form of a dove descended upon Him. At that point, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness in order to prepare for His time of public ministry.
In our text today, we see that when John the Baptist was thrown into prison by Herod, Jesus went up to Galilee to begin His public ministry. The Bible says that Jesus proclaimed the good news of God and that He told the people that the Kingdom or reign of God was near. He called on the people to repent and believe the good news.
Let's look at the meaning of these first words of the Lord Jesus. He proclaimed the good news of God. The fact that He the Messiah had come into this world was good news. The old ways and the old structures of power based on evil and unrighteousness were coming to an end. People having to be trapped in sinfulness and guilt were coming to an end. Jesus had come to tell people that God loved them and cared about them.
Jesus also told people the Kingdom of God had come near. Jesus during the time of His earthly ministry was going to be telling people about God's way of doing things in this world. The values of the Kingdom of God are vastly different from the values of this world system of domination. We don't see it in the Gospel of Mark, but Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount and Luke in the Sermon on the Plain record Jesus' teachings in detail about the values of the Kingdom of God. The overriding values of God's Kingdom are love, peace, goodness and justice.
Jesus showed us in His work and through His words what God values and that is what we are to value and strive for as those who are the followers of the Lord. We don't follow the way of the world that teaches might makes right, and that teaches the ways of greed and oppression. In another passage, Jesus said that He had come to preach to the poor. He came to preach release to the captive, and He came to bind the brokenhearted. He came to preach love for one's enemies and to care more about others than we care about ourselves. Jesus came and preached a message of radical forgiveness and mercy. He told us to love God and love our neighbor. And He taught us to care about the least of these. These are the values of the Kingdom of God.
Repentance was a key theme in the message of Jesus. He called on people to leave behind their old way of thinking and embrace the Kingdom of God. That is what repentance means. It means to change one's mind. Jesus called on people to change their minds about God and to change their minds about what God wants for them in this world.
In His preaching, Jesus called on people to believe in the good news. He called on the people to repent of their sins and accept His love and forgiveness. Since He had come into the world, everything was changed. He was the light that had come into the world, and the darkness did not and will never overcome the glorious light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus is calling on us to repent and believe the good news today. We need to repent of our ways of oppression and violence. We need to repent of exploitation of the poor, and we need to repent of destruction of all that God has made. There are also many who need to repent of their sins and come to Jesus for salvation. They need to leave sin behind and accept Jesus as the Lord of their lives. Now as then, Jesus is ready to receive all those who come to Him in repentance and faith. I hope that you will come to Him and follow Him and do what He laid out today. Amen.
Prayer Requests
Please keep praying in regard to my health. I am doing better in some ways and not in others. Thank you.
Let us keep praying for those who are suffering as a result of natural disasters. Pray that they will get the aid and the help that they need.
Remember to keep praying for peace. I looked at a list of all the conflicts going on in the world right now, and it made me sick. Literally. Pray for peace in Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Iran, Syria, Yemen, the Sahel region, Congo, Central African Republic, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Haiti, Colombia, Venezuela. I am sure I left something off the list. Pray for peace.
About the situation in Minnesota. What a tragedy. Please pray that these aggressive ICE tactics will come to an end. Pray for the well being of those in this country who haven't hurt anyone and are just trying to make it in this world. Also pray for the families and friends of those who have been so needlessly killed in Minneapolis.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in the nations of Sierra Leone and Indonesia. Pray that many will hear and respond to the love of Jesus.
Next week, we will continue in Mark. I will post the verses on Tuesday. May God bless you all.
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