NOW is the time to tell the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
During the 2020 Pandemic, the bad news in the typical media outlets was so pervasive that some well-meaning celebrities started a YouTube series called "Some Good News", while other individuals started “the good news movement,” highlighting stories of cute puppies and people doing nice things. While this type of good news is refreshing to read sometimes, it does not satisfy the deep soul ache caused by the bad news in any lasting way. It is not powerful enough to resolve the tension and despair of the fallen world.
The world needs good news: THE good news. 2000 years ago, the Son of God came to earth to live among us, die for us, and rise again to be forever with us. He is the good news and the only one who can reverse the curse of sin in our lives.
After Jesus ascended, the good news of his life, death, and resurrection spread on the lips of messengers throughout the Roman Empire, saving souls and establishing churches far and wide. After thirty-or-so years, the Apostles realized the need to have a written record of the events of Christ’s life that bore witness to his person and work. Church tradition teaches that a young disciple named John Mark was under the leadership and teaching of the Apostle Peter at the time and recorded Peter's eyewitness account. Many modern scholars believe this was the first of our four Gospels to be written, somewhere in the early-to-mid-60s of the first century.
Mark wrote the most concise account of the four Gospel writers, and he was concerned not so much about the chronology of events, but about the theological purpose of Christ’s life. He takes us on a true-story journey from Jesus’ early ministry days in Galilee, to the trying season as he prepared to enter Jerusalem, to his final days in that fateful city where he was rejected, crucified, and ultimately rose again.
All throughout, Mark invites the reader to consider how they must respond to “the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). As you embark on this study, we pray you will respond in three ways:
1. Proclaim Jesus - That you would grow to know and love Jesus more closely.
2. Equip Servants - That you would be able to clearly communicate the person and work of Christ to others.
3. Send Witnesses - That you would help at least one unbeliever to encounter Jesus this year, potentially inviting them to read the Gospel of Mark and discuss it with you.
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