Straight Path in a Crooked World
Series: The Gospel Can't Be Contained
April 11, 2021
Frank Foreman
This Sunday, we go back to the beginning of the book of Mark and look together at the announcement of John the Baptist about the coming of Christ. ______ John preached to people who needed real truth and his simple message of repentance struck a chord for his listeners, drawing many to hear that message. But in truth, he understood and embraced that he was not the message, but the messenger; and when the time came, he pointed the crowds to Jesus! It is a challenge and opportunity that each of us have even today--to share the good news and point people to Christ.
Episode Notes
Isaiah 40:1-5, Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
BIG IDEA: The best news is that a new and most glorious King has come... His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
John 1:29, The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 3:30, He must increase, but I must decrease.
Journal: Mark 1:1-8
1. John prepared the way for Jesus by straightening out crooked paths.
Luke1:15-17, ...for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
2. John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
2nd Timothy 2:24-25, And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
3. People responded by being baptized by him and confessing their sins.
2nd Corinthians 7:9-10, As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Journal: Mark 1:9-11
NEXT STEP: Confess and remove anything that has become a barrier between you and Jesus.
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