Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning church.

It is always good to be together each Sunday and worship with you!

If you are new here, we are pumped you are here!

We actually have a gift for you today.

If you will please take the card from the back of the seat in front of you and fill it out, you can drop it by Next Steps on your way out today in the lobby, and they will hook you up with a free t shirt!

No better deal than that this morning!

Today, we are kicking off a new series.

This is actually what we call a Together Series.

That means, we are preaching through the same series at all three of our Lindsay Lane campuses!

We are beginning to look at the Gospel According to Mark.

When us three teaching pastors from each campus got together to discuss our messages for the coming year, we wanted to study through one of the Gospels.

We decided on Mark for its simplicity and straightforwardness.

It will take us 12 weeks to get through the whole book, but we will not do that straight through.

We will do Part 1 of this series will be chapters 1-8 called “Ministry to the Multitudes,” looking at the interactions Jesus has with the large crowds of people who were following him.

Then in March, we will do Part 2, “Ministry to the Disciples.”

Then we will wrap it up in July with part 3, “Ministry to the nations.”

We will move through the major moments in the Gospel of Mark.

We won’t be looking at every single verse, but talking larger sections of text.

This morning, I think it’s important to understand some very basic things about the book itself, but also begin to see the general message Jesus is teaching and sharing with others.Let me read the first 8 verses to get the convo rolling, I’ll pray, and then we will step off in it!

Alright?

PRAY

If you are new to the Bible, it is made up of two parts.

The Old Testament is the first 2/3 of the Bible.

It tells the story of God’s relationship with man up until the 4-500 years before Jesus was born.

The New Testament picks up after that 4-500 years with the birth of Jesus and continues through the first generation of Jesus followers.

The first four books in the New Testament are named after four men.

These are what we call Gospels.

Gospel is a word that means good news.

It was used to talk of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus: good news for us!

You see that word in verse 1...

Each of these four men who wrote these accounts set out to retell the story of Jesus to the church that formed after Jesus’ death.

Two of them had actually walked with Jesus during much of his ministry.

But none of them were there for all of it, so all four had to do research and find out the stories they didn’t know.

Mark wasn’t one of Jesus’ disciples but very well may have been hanging around by the end of his life.

We know that he had a close relationship with Peter after Jesus’ death so that may very well be where he got most of his research.

Each of these four men, tell the story of Jesus in a somewhat unique way.

You can see that simply by how they start!

Matthew and Luke begin with the story of Jesus’ birth.

Matthew grounds that story into the story of the Israelites from the Old Testament by using lots of imagery they would be familiar with.

Luke does not focus on much of anything Jewish.

Seems to be writing more to connect with the non-Jews.

John goes back not to the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life, but back the beginning of EVERYTHING!

He begins by informing the reader that Jesus is not just some man, but that he is actually the SON OF GOD, an eternal being that was involved in creation.

Both of those make a lot of sense, right?

But Mark doesn’t start there.

Mark jumps right in by talking about a guy named John...

That’s what I read earlier.

Mark doesn’t talk about Jesus first, he talks about John.

The guy we call John the Baptizer!

This was actually Jesus’ cousin who was a strange guy, dressing different from everyone else, living off the land, avoiding a lot of city life.

But he develops quite a following.

And he plays a huge role in Jesus’ ministry beginning.

1. JESUS’ DEBUT

John recognized his calling from God to not be a big deal himself.

He knew people would think that he was the Messiah who had been promised to God’s people, but he knew he was not.

He was there to simply PAVE THE WAY for the Messiah.

That’s why he says...

John is trying to prepare the people for the Messiah’s coming.

He knows that when the Messiah comes, he will intensify the way we interact with God.

That’s why he can say that the Messiah will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

This is not a new idea here though.

God’s Spirit had already been at work in the Old Testament over and over again.

We see individuals being FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT accomplishing great things throughout the history of the the Israelites.

John was referring to a filling of the Holy Spirit that happens to every believer when we trust in Christ.

Paul expounds on this a lot in his letters that are sent to help churches understand how to exist together.

The story then skips forward to a moment that would have been overwhelming for John!

He has just said that he is not fit to untie the sandal of this Messiah that is coming, and then this happens...

WOW! Can you imagine how unfit John felt in this moment!

Especially after what happened following the baptism...

This moment sets the stage for Jesus’ ministry to begin taking off.

We don’t know how many were there to witness it, but you can be sure that those who were there were telling folks!

Jesus then takes 40 days to prepare for the ministry through fasting and solitude.

And after that, we quickly see...

2. Jesus’ Message

John ticks off a local leader because he wouldn’t lie and say that God approved of his sketchy life decisions, instead called him to repent.

So, in response, John was arrested.

But it’s at this time that Jesus begins his teaching ministry.

It was a common thing for skilled teachers to travel from city to city and teach in the synagogues.

But Jesus had a unique message...

Jesus was a Jewish man, teaching mostly in Jewish circles.

As we have already kind of talked about, the Jews were a people who were waiting.

They had experienced incredible blessing from God in past generations but were now living in the land God had promised would be theirs, but it’s part of the Roman Empire, not theirs.

So, they are waiting on this Messiah that God continued to remind them was coming.

He would turn things around!

He would bring the Kingdom of God to the earth.

That’s what Jesus says here is happening!

The kingdom of God has come near.

But Jesus and the other Jews were not on the same page.

You can’t fault the Jews too much on that either.

When the Israelites look back at their history, the peak was obviously the time when David was king.

To them, that was because they owned the most land, they had a powerful military.

All the stats that ancient nation leaders looked at.

This is why the Jews expected a military leader!

The only way they could envision the Kingdom of God on earth was through a kingdom ON EARTH and a king!

But Jesus’ message is not, “The time has come.

The kingdom of God is near.

Get your guns boys, and be ready.”

The way to prepare for the kingdom’s coming is not by preparing physically, but spiritually!

This had to be confusing!

What does repentance have to do with an overthrow of the government!?