The Wait Is Over
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. Not just for the past few days or weeks, but years. Decades. Dare I say, centuries. It could be the birth of your first grandchild. Maybe it’s paying off your mortgage (Really? You can actually do that?). Your favorite team has finally won a championship (I’m looking at you, Cubs fans).
When we get the incredible news that what we’ve hoped for has finally happened, we can’t sit down. Tom Petty is right. Waiting is the hardest part. What’s even better is that the real deal is way better than anything we expected. Now that it’s here, the party is unavoidable!
It’s Go Time!
Mark’s Bio of Jesus
That’s the picture Mark paints in the opening chapter of his bio of Jesus. Let’s back up a bit. First, John the Baptizer preps people for Messiah’s arrival (Mk 1:1-8). When the sinless Son of God gets baptized, the other two Members of the Trinity can’t get there fast enough to celebrate (Mk 1:9-11).
Before Jesus starts spreading the Good News, the Spirit sends Him on the road for a duel in the desert with the devil (Mk 1:12-13). Christ dominates Satan in this forty-day slugfest. Spoiler alert: It won’t be the last time they tangle.
Palestine’s Hottest Reality Show
That’s where we pick up the action in John Mark’s story. “Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God’s Good News” (v14). As soon as the Lord gets back from His road victory over the evil one, He gets the awful news that His weird, bug eating cousin is behind bars.
Jesus’ other biographers fill in the blanks on what’s going down with the Baptizer (Mt 14:3-4; Lk 3:19-20). It’s like some sordid soap opera story line right out of “The Young and Restless.” Apparently, First Century Palestine’s hottest reality show is all about royalty. Just call it “Herod Hot and Bothered.”
A Royal Scandal
It all begins when King Herod Antipas steals his brother Philip’s wife Herodias. John the Baptizer calls them out publicly for their slimy sinfulness. Antipas tries to get on his lady’s good side by arresting John and shutting him up.
I don’t know about you, but I usually get my wife gifts like cards, flowers, or chocolate as a present…not a fur wearing prophet of God. Then again, when you’re openly sleeping with your sister-in-law, all bets are off.
Herod’s Sleazy Birthday Party
John the Baptizer eventually dies after one of the most twisted scenes you’ll see anywhere. Read it for yourself over in Matthew 14. At Herod’s incredibly sleazy birthday party, he has his own niece perform a little bump-and-grind for the crowd. This is actually in the Bible, people!!
As a result, the king tells Herodias’ daughter she can have anything her little heart desires. Must have been quite a dance. Mom whispers to her little girl and suggests a shiny silver platter topped with the severed head of that rather annoying John the Baptizer (Mt 14:1-11).
Galilee Bound
Meanwhile back in Mark, we see Jesus putting the Judean wilderness in His rearview mirror. “Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God’s Good News” (v14). He’s headed 90 miles north. That’s the distance from where most folks put Christ’s baptism to Capernaum, the Galilean fishing village that will become the Lord’s home office.
As a matter of fact, Matthew’s Gospel makes the point of telling us the Baptizer’s arrest is exactly the reason our Savior decides to head His home turf of Galilee (Mt 4:12). Remember, He grew up just down the road from Capernaum in Nazareth. A hick town so backward that it provided the punchline to a local joke (Jn 1:46).
No Hidden Agenda
Once back in Galilee, Jesus begins broadcasting breaking news. Breaking GOOD News. Mark uses a word we translate as “preached” (Gr. κηρυσσω/kerusso), which describes a public proclamation or open announcement.
The radical Rabbi/Carpenter is not secretly spreading the Gospel. He doesn’t organize a whisper campaign. He has no hidden agenda. His mission and His message are to publicly proclaim that God’s long promised plan is unfolding right before their eyes.
The Messiah’s Method and Message
Jesus’ method is actually pretty simple. He hits all the synagogues in Galilee, openly announcing God’s Good News as well as miraculously healing people of sickness and disease (Mt 4:23). His miracles help folks realize His message is legit and He really is Messiah. He’s the Hero the prophets have predicted for thousands of years.
Because Jesus preached, God now calls us to preach Jesus. That’s exactly what His followers did in Acts as the Tsunami of Grace rolled all around the Mediterranean Rim (Acts 5:42; 8:12; 10:36; 11:20; 17:18; 28:31). Two thousand years later, methods have changed. But the message has not.
Loud and Proud
Keep it simple. Preach Jesus. Make Him famous. Do it loud. Do it proud. Tell a friend. Don’t freak out and think you must have every answer to every question. You don’t have to be the Bible Answer Man. Simply tell folks about what He’s done for you. Preach Jesus.
Christ rolls into Galilee “proclaiming the Gospel” (v14). The Gospel. Boy, talk about a word that has drags around a truckload of churchy baggage. In the original language, “Gospel” is compound noun (Gr. ευαγγελιον/euaggelion) which literally means “good (Gr. ευ-/eu-) message (Gr. -αγγελιον/-aggelion).”
When Good Is Great
Back in the Greco-Roman world, this word usually meant breaking news of a recent military victory. With no 24-hour cable news or internet (stop and think about THAT for just a minute!), the winning army would send a messenger sprinting back from the battlefield to let everybody know the good news. We won! Start the party! It’s what we’ve been waiting to hear!
Part of the problem is that we’ve lost the true meaning of “good.” For us, good simply describes good enough. Just barely above acceptable. His Good News is not just meh good but EXCELLENT GOOD! We’re talking and-the-crowd-goes-wild GOOD!! The Gospel of God is ticker-tape-parade GOOD!!!
God’s good is our GREAT! That’s because God Himself is THE definition of goodness. That’s why Jesus tells a young rich dude, “Only God is truly good” (Mk 10:17). God’s Good News is the greatest news!! It’s the news we’ve been waiting to hear.
Crushing Sin’s Skull
The Good News of God is that Jesus has come to do for us what we could never do on our own. What exactly is that? First of all, He defeats sin and death. This is the very same sin and death our first parents allowed to slither into God’s perfect creation (Gen 3:1-7). Christ has come to crush sin’s skull (Gen 3:15). That’s certainly party worthy by itself!
The Gospel is that Jesus came to live the perfect life of obedience to God’s commands that we could never live. Do you realize that we can never be good enough in God’s eyes when it comes to keeping His rules? Jesus’ kid brother says if we break one, we’ve broken them all (James 2:10). Sounds like we’re ALL in need of a Savior.
Doing What We Can’t
Just when we think all is lost and we don’t stand a chance, that’s where Christ comes in on our behalf. Jesus wants us to know He didn’t come to erase His Father’s commands from Scripture but fulfill every single one of them for us when we can’t (Mt 5:17). Paul writes about how God willingly trades His sinless Son for my steaming pile of self-salvation (2Cor 5:21).
The Good News also means Jesus’ substitutes Himself in my place at Calvary. He dies the death I should have died for my rebellion against His kingdom. And it that’s not good enough, He rises to a glorious resurrection life that I certainly do NOT deserve.
But the Good News doesn’t stop there. The Gospel is SO much more than our incredible opportunity to spend eternity with Jesus. When Christ returns for His spectacular encore, our Savior will restore God’s perfect creation back to where it belongs (Mt 19:28; Col 1:19-20; Rev 21:2). I told you this is Good News!
Holding Out for a Hero
Christ tells the folks of Galilee this is the moment they’ve all been waiting for. “The time promised by God has come at last!” (v15). A promise He made in the garden to Adam and Eve (Gen 3:15). A promise He makes over and over to folks like Abraham (Gen 12:1-3; 17:1-8), David (2Sam 7:9-16), and prophets named Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
The people of God have been waiting and waiting and waiting. From their perspective, it made the DMV look like a fast pass at Disney World. They wondered if it would EVER happen. They were holding out for a hero long before Bonnie Tyler recorded her hit tune. Well guess what, sports fans…this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!
It’s Go Time!
Our On-Time God
The Apostle Paul put it this way. “When the right time came, God sent His Son” (Gal 4:4). Almighty God lives outside the river of time. He stands on the bank and sees the beginning, the middle, and the end. The beauty of being the Great I Am is always being in the present tense.
With that kind of perspective, His timing is perfect. He’s never early. He’s never late. He’s always right on time. He’s an on-time God. He’s an on-time Savior. Same with any problem you and I are facing. He’s STILL an on-time God. So when Jesus arrives two thousand years ago in Palestine, it’s not a moment too soon or too late.
It’s Go Time!
So Close You Almost Taste It
Once Jesus hits Galilee, He announces, “The Kingdom of God is near!” (v15). Not only is this what you’ve been waiting for but it is right here. So close you can almost touch it. So close you can almost taste it.
Just what is this Kingdom of God the Son of God is talking about? Mark gives us a few clues. First of all, it’s a mystery (Mk 4:11). That’s Bible talk describing something hidden for a long time and finally revealed. Our Savior is pulling back the curtain on the Kingdom.
The Kingdom Defined
God’s Kingdom is also a lot like someone spreading seeds (Mk 4:26). Jesus says it also belongs to kids (Mk 10:14-15). Yet it’s harder to get into than the most exclusive club. Christ says it’s almost impossible to enter even if you’re rich…ESPECIALLY if you’re rich (Mk 10:23-24). You can’t buy your way in.
In one conversation, the Messiah tells one of the so-called religious experts that he didn’t realize just how close he was to the Kingdom of God (Mk 12:34). On the night before His murder, Christ promises His crew that He won’t drink another drop of wine until He gets there (Mk 14:25).
Bringing Heaven to Earth
The Kingdom is near because wherever the King of Kings goes, His Kingdom goes with Him. A big part of His mission is to bringing God’s Kingdom down with Him. Sure, going to heaven when we die will be awesome. But you know what’s even better? Jesus bringing heaven to earth forever, once and for all!
That’s probably why He told His posse to pray to His Father to send it right away. “May Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). Imagine a day when stuff here on our broken and fallen world (which WE broke, by the way!) happens just like it does in the perfect rhythm of heaven. I don’t know about you, but that can’t happen fast enough.
Doing a 180
Jesus tells folks there are two important preps we must make for the coming Kingdom. “Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” (v15). Repent and believe. Turn and trust.
Let’s take those one at a time. “Repent of your sins” is actually one single Greek verb (Gr. μετανοεω/metanoeo) which describes a change of heart, turning from something toward something else. It’s a compound word which literally means “after (Gr. μετα-/meta-) thinking (Gr. -νοεω/-noeo).”
The Bad News Is REALLY Bad
“Repent” is another one of those super duper churchy words that conjures up visions of hellfire-spewing evangelists and summer tent revivals. But it’s actually one of THE most grace-filled ideas we’ll find anywhere. You see, repentance is actually a gift. Our incredibly gracious God grants us the privilege making a 180 when He doesn’t have to (Acts 11:18; 2Tim 2:24-25).
We can’t know the incredibly Good News without understanding the bad news. The bad news is that we’re all sinners. We’re all enemies of God’s Kingdom (Rom 5:10; Col 1:21). Rebels. Terrorists.
I told you the bad news is really bad. But repentance makes the Good News REALLY good! Jesus gives us the opportunity to turn from our self-centered, self-absorbed sinfulness and toward His grace and mercy. He gives me the amazing chance to spin from my sin.
Faithing
The second half of Jesus’ big announcement is for us to “believe in the Good News!” (v15). Now that we know what the Good News is, what exactly does the Lord mean by “believe”? One more time, a quick look into the original language will come in handy.
The word the NLT translates here as “believe” (Gr. πιστευω/pisteuo) paints a picture of placing your faith in something, trusting, or having complete confidence and assurance. It actually comes from the same root word as the Greek word for “faith” (Gr. πιστις/pistis). So believing is, shall we say, faithing.
Do You Smell What He’s Cooking?
Believing in the Good News is NOT working up some sort of inner gumption for God. That’s buying the lie that we can come up with enough belief on our own. Instead, believing in the Gospel IS placing your trust in who Jesus is and what He has done.
That’s because it’s WAY better to have a weak faith in a strong object than the other way around. And there’s no stronger object than Christ. Why do you think they call Him the Rock? If you smell what He’s cooking.
A little later, Mark will introduce us to the desperate dad of a demon-possessed little boy. The man not only pleads with Jesus to heal his son but honestly admits his own weak trust. “I believe. Help my unbelief” (Mk 9:24). Are you willing to offer the same prayer to our Savior?
How’s That Working Out for You?
In the end, Jesus’ talk about God’s Kingdom and the Gospel is all about turning and trusting. I must continually turn from my own jacked up way of trying to do life my own way. In the words of Dr. Phil, “How’s that working out for you?” Do I REALLY need to tell you?
The Good News is Jesus came so that we could do life the way God originally designed it. I can now turn from the dumpster fire I’ve started and turn toward my Savior.
Now that Jesus has arrived and brought God’s Kingdom with Him, there’s no time to waste. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. It’s time to repent. It’s time to believe. Turn and trust.
It’s Go Time!
©2017
Jay Jennings
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. Not just for the past few days or weeks, but years. Decades. Dare I say, centuries. It could be the birth of your first grandchild. Maybe it’s paying off your mortgage (Really? You can actually do that?). Your favorite team has finally won a championship (I’m looking at you, Cubs fans).
When we get the incredible news that what we’ve hoped for has finally happened, we can’t sit down. Tom Petty is right. Waiting is the hardest part. What’s even better is that the real deal is way better than anything we expected. Now that it’s here, the party is unavoidable!
It’s Go Time!
Mark’s Bio of Jesus
That’s the picture Mark paints in the opening chapter of his bio of Jesus. Let’s back up a bit. First, John the Baptizer preps people for Messiah’s arrival (Mk 1:1-8). When the sinless Son of God gets baptized, the other two Members of the Trinity can’t get there fast enough to celebrate (Mk 1:9-11).
Before Jesus starts spreading the Good News, the Spirit sends Him on the road for a duel in the desert with the devil (Mk 1:12-13). Christ dominates Satan in this forty-day slugfest. Spoiler alert: It won’t be the last time they tangle.
Palestine’s Hottest Reality Show
That’s where we pick up the action in John Mark’s story. “Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God’s Good News” (v14). As soon as the Lord gets back from His road victory over the evil one, He gets the awful news that His weird, bug eating cousin is behind bars.
Jesus’ other biographers fill in the blanks on what’s going down with the Baptizer (Mt 14:3-4; Lk 3:19-20). It’s like some sordid soap opera story line right out of “The Young and Restless.” Apparently, First Century Palestine’s hottest reality show is all about royalty. Just call it “Herod Hot and Bothered.”
A Royal Scandal
It all begins when King Herod Antipas steals his brother Philip’s wife Herodias. John the Baptizer calls them out publicly for their slimy sinfulness. Antipas tries to get on his lady’s good side by arresting John and shutting him up.
I don’t know about you, but I usually get my wife gifts like cards, flowers, or chocolate as a present…not a fur wearing prophet of God. Then again, when you’re openly sleeping with your sister-in-law, all bets are off.
Herod’s Sleazy Birthday Party
John the Baptizer eventually dies after one of the most twisted scenes you’ll see anywhere. Read it for yourself over in Matthew 14. At Herod’s incredibly sleazy birthday party, he has his own niece perform a little bump-and-grind for the crowd. This is actually in the Bible, people!!
As a result, the king tells Herodias’ daughter she can have anything her little heart desires. Must have been quite a dance. Mom whispers to her little girl and suggests a shiny silver platter topped with the severed head of that rather annoying John the Baptizer (Mt 14:1-11).
Galilee Bound
Meanwhile back in Mark, we see Jesus putting the Judean wilderness in His rearview mirror. “Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God’s Good News” (v14). He’s headed 90 miles north. That’s the distance from where most folks put Christ’s baptism to Capernaum, the Galilean fishing village that will become the Lord’s home office.
As a matter of fact, Matthew’s Gospel makes the point of telling us the Baptizer’s arrest is exactly the reason our Savior decides to head His home turf of Galilee (Mt 4:12). Remember, He grew up just down the road from Capernaum in Nazareth. A hick town so backward that it provided the punchline to a local joke (Jn 1:46).
No Hidden Agenda
Once back in Galilee, Jesus begins broadcasting breaking news. Breaking GOOD News. Mark uses a word we translate as “preached” (Gr. κηρυσσω/kerusso), which describes a public proclamation or open announcement.
The radical Rabbi/Carpenter is not secretly spreading the Gospel. He doesn’t organize a whisper campaign. He has no hidden agenda. His mission and His message are to publicly proclaim that God’s long promised plan is unfolding right before their eyes.
The Messiah’s Method and Message
Jesus’ method is actually pretty simple. He hits all the synagogues in Galilee, openly announcing God’s Good News as well as miraculously healing people of sickness and disease (Mt 4:23). His miracles help folks realize His message is legit and He really is Messiah. He’s the Hero the prophets have predicted for thousands of years.
Because Jesus preached, God now calls us to preach Jesus. That’s exactly what His followers did in Acts as the Tsunami of Grace rolled all around the Mediterranean Rim (Acts 5:42; 8:12; 10:36; 11:20; 17:18; 28:31). Two thousand years later, methods have changed. But the message has not.
Loud and Proud
Keep it simple. Preach Jesus. Make Him famous. Do it loud. Do it proud. Tell a friend. Don’t freak out and think you must have every answer to every question. You don’t have to be the Bible Answer Man. Simply tell folks about what He’s done for you. Preach Jesus.
Christ rolls into Galilee “proclaiming the Gospel” (v14). The Gospel. Boy, talk about a word that has drags around a truckload of churchy baggage. In the original language, “Gospel” is compound noun (Gr. ευαγγελιον/euaggelion) which literally means “good (Gr. ευ-/eu-) message (Gr. -αγγελιον/-aggelion).”
When Good Is Great
Back in the Greco-Roman world, this word usually meant breaking news of a recent military victory. With no 24-hour cable news or internet (stop and think about THAT for just a minute!), the winning army would send a messenger sprinting back from the battlefield to let everybody know the good news. We won! Start the party! It’s what we’ve been waiting to hear!
Part of the problem is that we’ve lost the true meaning of “good.” For us, good simply describes good enough. Just barely above acceptable. His Good News is not just meh good but EXCELLENT GOOD! We’re talking and-the-crowd-goes-wild GOOD!! The Gospel of God is ticker-tape-parade GOOD!!!
God’s good is our GREAT! That’s because God Himself is THE definition of goodness. That’s why Jesus tells a young rich dude, “Only God is truly good” (Mk 10:17). God’s Good News is the greatest news!! It’s the news we’ve been waiting to hear.
Crushing Sin’s Skull
The Good News of God is that Jesus has come to do for us what we could never do on our own. What exactly is that? First of all, He defeats sin and death. This is the very same sin and death our first parents allowed to slither into God’s perfect creation (Gen 3:1-7). Christ has come to crush sin’s skull (Gen 3:15). That’s certainly party worthy by itself!
The Gospel is that Jesus came to live the perfect life of obedience to God’s commands that we could never live. Do you realize that we can never be good enough in God’s eyes when it comes to keeping His rules? Jesus’ kid brother says if we break one, we’ve broken them all (James 2:10). Sounds like we’re ALL in need of a Savior.
Doing What We Can’t
Just when we think all is lost and we don’t stand a chance, that’s where Christ comes in on our behalf. Jesus wants us to know He didn’t come to erase His Father’s commands from Scripture but fulfill every single one of them for us when we can’t (Mt 5:17). Paul writes about how God willingly trades His sinless Son for my steaming pile of self-salvation (2Cor 5:21).
The Good News also means Jesus’ substitutes Himself in my place at Calvary. He dies the death I should have died for my rebellion against His kingdom. And it that’s not good enough, He rises to a glorious resurrection life that I certainly do NOT deserve.
But the Good News doesn’t stop there. The Gospel is SO much more than our incredible opportunity to spend eternity with Jesus. When Christ returns for His spectacular encore, our Savior will restore God’s perfect creation back to where it belongs (Mt 19:28; Col 1:19-20; Rev 21:2). I told you this is Good News!
Holding Out for a Hero
Christ tells the folks of Galilee this is the moment they’ve all been waiting for. “The time promised by God has come at last!” (v15). A promise He made in the garden to Adam and Eve (Gen 3:15). A promise He makes over and over to folks like Abraham (Gen 12:1-3; 17:1-8), David (2Sam 7:9-16), and prophets named Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
The people of God have been waiting and waiting and waiting. From their perspective, it made the DMV look like a fast pass at Disney World. They wondered if it would EVER happen. They were holding out for a hero long before Bonnie Tyler recorded her hit tune. Well guess what, sports fans…this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!
It’s Go Time!
Our On-Time God
The Apostle Paul put it this way. “When the right time came, God sent His Son” (Gal 4:4). Almighty God lives outside the river of time. He stands on the bank and sees the beginning, the middle, and the end. The beauty of being the Great I Am is always being in the present tense.
With that kind of perspective, His timing is perfect. He’s never early. He’s never late. He’s always right on time. He’s an on-time God. He’s an on-time Savior. Same with any problem you and I are facing. He’s STILL an on-time God. So when Jesus arrives two thousand years ago in Palestine, it’s not a moment too soon or too late.
It’s Go Time!
So Close You Almost Taste It
Once Jesus hits Galilee, He announces, “The Kingdom of God is near!” (v15). Not only is this what you’ve been waiting for but it is right here. So close you can almost touch it. So close you can almost taste it.
Just what is this Kingdom of God the Son of God is talking about? Mark gives us a few clues. First of all, it’s a mystery (Mk 4:11). That’s Bible talk describing something hidden for a long time and finally revealed. Our Savior is pulling back the curtain on the Kingdom.
The Kingdom Defined
God’s Kingdom is also a lot like someone spreading seeds (Mk 4:26). Jesus says it also belongs to kids (Mk 10:14-15). Yet it’s harder to get into than the most exclusive club. Christ says it’s almost impossible to enter even if you’re rich…ESPECIALLY if you’re rich (Mk 10:23-24). You can’t buy your way in.
In one conversation, the Messiah tells one of the so-called religious experts that he didn’t realize just how close he was to the Kingdom of God (Mk 12:34). On the night before His murder, Christ promises His crew that He won’t drink another drop of wine until He gets there (Mk 14:25).
Bringing Heaven to Earth
The Kingdom is near because wherever the King of Kings goes, His Kingdom goes with Him. A big part of His mission is to bringing God’s Kingdom down with Him. Sure, going to heaven when we die will be awesome. But you know what’s even better? Jesus bringing heaven to earth forever, once and for all!
That’s probably why He told His posse to pray to His Father to send it right away. “May Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). Imagine a day when stuff here on our broken and fallen world (which WE broke, by the way!) happens just like it does in the perfect rhythm of heaven. I don’t know about you, but that can’t happen fast enough.
Doing a 180
Jesus tells folks there are two important preps we must make for the coming Kingdom. “Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” (v15). Repent and believe. Turn and trust.
Let’s take those one at a time. “Repent of your sins” is actually one single Greek verb (Gr. μετανοεω/metanoeo) which describes a change of heart, turning from something toward something else. It’s a compound word which literally means “after (Gr. μετα-/meta-) thinking (Gr. -νοεω/-noeo).”
The Bad News Is REALLY Bad
“Repent” is another one of those super duper churchy words that conjures up visions of hellfire-spewing evangelists and summer tent revivals. But it’s actually one of THE most grace-filled ideas we’ll find anywhere. You see, repentance is actually a gift. Our incredibly gracious God grants us the privilege making a 180 when He doesn’t have to (Acts 11:18; 2Tim 2:24-25).
We can’t know the incredibly Good News without understanding the bad news. The bad news is that we’re all sinners. We’re all enemies of God’s Kingdom (Rom 5:10; Col 1:21). Rebels. Terrorists.
I told you the bad news is really bad. But repentance makes the Good News REALLY good! Jesus gives us the opportunity to turn from our self-centered, self-absorbed sinfulness and toward His grace and mercy. He gives me the amazing chance to spin from my sin.
Faithing
The second half of Jesus’ big announcement is for us to “believe in the Good News!” (v15). Now that we know what the Good News is, what exactly does the Lord mean by “believe”? One more time, a quick look into the original language will come in handy.
The word the NLT translates here as “believe” (Gr. πιστευω/pisteuo) paints a picture of placing your faith in something, trusting, or having complete confidence and assurance. It actually comes from the same root word as the Greek word for “faith” (Gr. πιστις/pistis). So believing is, shall we say, faithing.
Do You Smell What He’s Cooking?
Believing in the Good News is NOT working up some sort of inner gumption for God. That’s buying the lie that we can come up with enough belief on our own. Instead, believing in the Gospel IS placing your trust in who Jesus is and what He has done.
That’s because it’s WAY better to have a weak faith in a strong object than the other way around. And there’s no stronger object than Christ. Why do you think they call Him the Rock? If you smell what He’s cooking.
A little later, Mark will introduce us to the desperate dad of a demon-possessed little boy. The man not only pleads with Jesus to heal his son but honestly admits his own weak trust. “I believe. Help my unbelief” (Mk 9:24). Are you willing to offer the same prayer to our Savior?
How’s That Working Out for You?
In the end, Jesus’ talk about God’s Kingdom and the Gospel is all about turning and trusting. I must continually turn from my own jacked up way of trying to do life my own way. In the words of Dr. Phil, “How’s that working out for you?” Do I REALLY need to tell you?
The Good News is Jesus came so that we could do life the way God originally designed it. I can now turn from the dumpster fire I’ve started and turn toward my Savior.
Now that Jesus has arrived and brought God’s Kingdom with Him, there’s no time to waste. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. It’s time to repent. It’s time to believe. Turn and trust.
It’s Go Time!
©2017
Jay Jennings
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