The Beginning of the Good News

January 3, 2021

The Beginning of the Good News


Following The Servant


Mark 1:1-8

“What will the Gospel of Mark make of me?”

One verse to summarize the Gospel of Mark: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”                                                            Mark 10:45

The goal is that it will make us .

The author, Mark, ministered with Paul and was a close associate of Peter.  In fact, Mark’s gospel is the first, and it is believed that he wrote his gospel based on the preaching and the testimony of the Apostle Peter. Matthew and Luke used Mark as an important resource for their gospel accounts.  Of Mark’s 661 verses, only 24 do not appear in either Matthew or Luke in some form.  In these first verses, Mark records the testimonies of some dependable witnesses that confirm Jesus is all He claimed to be.

The word “immediately” is used 42 times in the gospel of Mark (compared to only 12 times in the rest of the New Testament)

Mark gives us witnesses to prove his point:

1.   The first witness is .  (v. 1)

If you really believe these words, and stake your life on them, .

2.   The second witness is (vv. 2, 3)

Malachi 3:1

Isaiah 40:3

Mark identifies the messenger with John the Baptist, and that means he identifies the Lord GOD who’s coming, !

The incarnation changes our fear into .

The incarnation helps us realize that God is with us

“God chose to make man as he is – limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death. At least God had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine.” -Dorothy Sayers

3.   The third witness is (vv. 4-8)

Jesus called John the greatest of the prophets

Matthew 11:1-15

Acts 1:4–5

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”          John 3:30

“John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness.

Wilderness is one of the themes of the Bible.

What Israel learned in the desert is that apart from God’s intervention, we have !!

“Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy….

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”                          -C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity”

What’s the significance of John the Baptist baptizing people?

Our salvation has to come from .

 

Daily Meditations

 
Memory verse: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”                                                                     Mark 10:45
 
Monday
Read Mark 1.  What are some of the insights / challenges you heard on Sunday (review your notes)?  
 
 
 
 
What would you say is unique about the Gospel of Mark?
 
 
 
 
Tuesday
Read Mark 1:1-8. How would you say verse 1 summarizes the Good News of salvation?
 
 
 
 
Look up John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 in your Bible and underline those verses if they are not already highlighted.  What light do these verses shed on Mark 1:1? 
 
 
 
 
Wednesday
Read Mark 1:1-8. In verses 2 and 3, Mark quotes from Malachi and Isaiah.  If the words “messenger” and “voice” refer to John, what does this imply about Jesus and why was this so radical?
 
 
 
 
How does Jesus being God remove fear and help us through suffering?
 
 
 
 
Thursday
Read Mark 1:1-8. What is the significance of the wilderness in Scripture?  In these first verses of Mark? 
 
 
 
 
In your life?
 
 
 
 
Friday
Read Mark 1:1-8. In verses 4 and 5, describe the message John preached and the people’s response?
 
 
 
 
John 3:30 quotes John the Baptist saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Personalize this and write this out in a prayer for yourself.  
 
 
 
 
Saturday
Read Mark 1.  What would you say is the central theme of John’s message (see especially verses 7 and 8), and what is Mark trying to emphasize by highlighting this? 
 
 
 
 
Write a short prayer of what you’d like God to do in your heart as we study the book of Mark over these next months.

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