God loves you

 

April 25, 2020

 

Marks Gospel

 

The Introduction and verses 1-3

 

Today I’m using the introduction found in the Holman Christian Standard  Study Bible

 

“Mark’s Gospel emphasizes actions and deeds.  Jesus is on the go – healing, casting out demons, performing miracles, hurrying from place to place, and teaching.  In Mark, everything happens “immediately.”  As soon as one episode ends, another begins.  The rapid place slows down when Jesus enters Jerusalem (11:1).   Therefore, events are marked by days and His final day by hours.”

 

 

Mark 1: 1 - 3

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.   As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,”

Jan and I are very blessed to have come to know Jesus as our Redeemer and Lord, we were both in our twenties and our experiences are different, about a year apart, mine in a Hotel room and hers in the back of a Church building and she recalls little that the preacher said.  As we reflect on our early time with the Lord, it was people that were sent to us to mentor and encourage us in the ways of God.  I am so thankful for my first mentor, an amazing man who I later found out was an All-American football player at TCU and played pro-ball for the New York Giants.  He also was referred to as Dry Hole Jack in the Oil industry, in that the first 19 holes he drilled were dry.  Then one day he drilled the 20^th and became a millionaire.  He came to Christ in his early forty’s and He began with me in the book of John.  What Jack taught me was that I am loved by God!  Jack did not do the correct things like bow your head when it was just the two of us, he just brought Jesus into the conversation.

What does this have to do with the book of Mark, a lot of Johns Gospel is an introduction to how much God loves you and me, it is about a promised one who would come and redeem his people, it is about them rejecting Jesus and you and I being grafted into Christ, it gives us an account of the disciples and their doubt and unbelief.  Most of all, John was not jumping from one event to the next.  Mark is telling the same thing, but it is always immediately.  As a New Creation in Christ, I needed someone who was in love with Jesus, someone who I could look up to and at the same time see a man who knew that the only thing of value in his life was his new friend, Jesus Christ.  I grew up in church and knew all about Jesus and I believed that He was the Son of God, but I could not believe he could love someone as evil as I was.  God knew my need for love, and acceptance, He sent Jack so I could learn how God loved me, a mess, yes in Christ but still trying to hold on to a little of the worldly things.  I hope you will explore the book of Mark with me, and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you whatever it is you need at this stage in your life.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice