40 DAYS in the GOSPEL Sample

PREPARE FOR THE GOOD NEWS

"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." (Mark 1:1)

Bad news travels fast. Notice the headlines. Have you seen what gets the most clicks on your phone? This storm, that murder, this super virus, that war—all meant to get your attention and make you feel impending doom.

Some psychologists say it’s because we humans want to be prepared. It’s in our nature to get ready for a crisis. Who wants to be taken by surprise by some catastrophe?

Some things, however, we just can’t prepare for. There will be surprises: a third child you weren’t planning, a stock market crash, or a health scare. We can’t prepare for everything.

Mark makes his purpose plain: this is the “beginning of the gospel.” And gospel means “good news.” It’s a bold announcement meant to bring on the sunlight of joy, not the gloomy shadows of impending doom.

He is announcing to us that the message of these sixteen chapters is worth hearing because it’s from God’s Son.

And this is good news that God wants us to prepare for. (Yes, there is also some bad news. After all, if we call it good news, that means that we may be in a situation that isn’t good!) God’s way of preparing those people then, as well as us now, is to remind us of where our thinking has been wrong.

His way of doing this then was to send a man named John on the scene who is often called “John the Baptist.” This is because baptism was central to his message. His purpose was to prepare God’s people for the good news by preaching “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).

Putting people briefly underwater had strong symbolism to those people then and to us now. It is a way of saying, “I’ve had the wrong idea about God and what I’ve believed about my way of life. Now, I’m being cleansed from my former ways and beginning a new way of life as I come up from the water.”

The good news is so important to God that He sent John to get them ready for it. As we begin these 40 DAYS, will you prepare your heart to believe the good news of Jesus?

PRAY ABOUT IT: Ask God to make you aware of ways you need to repent (change your mind) concerning Him and your way of life. Pray that God will prepare your heart to receive the good news of Jesus.