What is Good News!

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

Bad news. It seems that is the majority of what we get when we read the front page of the newspaper or listen to the news on TV.

Economically, we hear that the divide between rich and poor is greater everyday. While plenty abounds in many countries, there is hunger, starvation, and disease in even more.

Culturally, there is mistrust and animosity between people of different nations. There is also discrimination and oppression between different cultures within many countries.

Politically, there are numerous rulers that wield a heavy hand. They imprison and put to death those that disagree. They live in splendor while the majority of those in their countries scrape by on less than two dollars a day.

Spiritually, the world is following their many gods down the paths of immorality or cruelty. Man follows what seems right to them and tries to earn the favor of God, but it leads to an emptiness of the soul. The so-called "religious" leaders are either intolerant or self-righteous. Too many have been influenced by political power and many more have lost all touch with their fellow man. And there is a hunger in the soul that needs to be filled.

Those words not only describe life today, most of it could describe life in 1st Century Palestine under Roman rule and Herod the Great. It had been over 400 years since God had spoken through one of His prophets. The Jews were waiting for a deliverer, one anointed from God. A king with military might that would overthrow Roman rule. A king after God's own heart that would purify the Temple and lead the nation back to God. A king that would restore Israel's economic and social prosperity to it's original height under Solomon.

Many today are waiting for a message. They are waiting for a deliverer, one anointed from God that will bring peace to their troubled soul and overthrow Satan's rule in their lives. They are waiting for somone to lead them back to God, to purify their hearts and minds. They are waiting to be restored to their orginial creation.

We all need some Good News! And it comes through Jesus, the Son of God.

However, we will find out just like the Israelites that our expectations of the Messiah may be mistaken. He brings peace to the soul, but not peace to the world. He heals and rescues the sick, not the (self) righteous. He overthrows the bondage of sin, but following Him may lead to oppresion for some. He may grant you economic prosperity, but it will only be for the benefit of His kingdom. A kingdom that is not of this world, but of the heart and soul.

So what is so "good news" about the gospel?

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power of salvation to everyone who believes."

2 Corinthians 5:18 "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

It's because it meets the one need we have the most and didn't even know it. It's reconciliation with the God who created us. That reconciliation is our salvation. The gospel is not what, but who.

The good news is that Jesus reconciles those that believe to God and establishes His kingdom where it matters the most, in our hearts.

The Gospel: From the Beginning

Mark 1:1 & Luke 1:1-4

"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!" (NASB)

Beginnings.

The thought of beginning anything new carries with it multiple emotions. Hope, Anticipation, Nervousness, and Apprehension.

It is the hope that our lives can be better. It is the anticipation of getting to know ourselves and the One who created us. It is the nervousness of being real and honest with ourselves and God. It is the apprehension that we cannot come face to face with Jesus and remain the same.

It also brings multiple questions.
What did Jesus actually say and do? How does that apply to my life?
How will my life change if I am actually conformed to His image?
How can I know for certain everything about Jesus that I have been taught?
What will happen if I truly know this man called Jesus?

To really get to know someone you have to spend time with them. Lots of time. For many of us our time with Jesus is limited to a few minutes a day, and a few hours on Sunday and Wednesday. So starting today, we begin a journey. A journey filled with emotions, to answer the questions that we seek. A journey to investigate the gospels and forever be changed by a relationship with Jesus.

"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." (NIV)

Much like Luke, we are going to investigate and study from the beginning all the accounts of Jesus. We are going to take a harmony of the gospels and view Jesus' life. Many of us have scrapbooks of different periods of our lives. They don't tell every detail, they highlight the key points. The gospels do much the same. They provide us the key points of His birth, ministry, death, and resurrection. And at the end, we will know the certainty of things we have been taught.

A few years ago, my mother put together a scrapbook that contained many of my ancestors and then it proceeded to highlight my life from birth until my mid-twenties. It is an extremely valuable book to me. At the end of the scrapbook, she wrote: "This is where you came from, only you can determine where you are going!"

And so each of us is at a crossroads. We can look back and see where we came from and what brought us here to this moment. We can continue on the path that we have been on that keeps Jesus at a comfortable distance, OR we can change paths. The new path is narrow, uphill, and rocky. It bends in the distance to a place we can't see. But we know where it ends. It ends at a bloody cross, an empty tomb, and a seat at the right hand of the Father.

And it leads to another beginning! You, as a memeber of the Body and Bride of Christ.