PREACH THE GOSPEL TO YOURSELF

While today’s reading is a collection of verses from the four gospels, I am going to focus on the first reading: Mark 1:1. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This first verse of Mark’s gospel could well be viewed as the title for his gospel. Let’s look at some of the key words in this verse:

Gospel*: the gospel or “good story” is the good news about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of the numerous ‘gospel’ accounts that were written, the church from its earliest times accepted only four accounts as inspired Scriptures. These are the first four books of the New Testament.

Jesus Christ*: Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, meaning “The Lord is salvation.” The title Christ, meaning “anointed one” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is the Lord’s human name and Christ signifies His office as ruler of God’s coming kingdom.

Son of God*: The title Son of God is an affirmation of Jesus’ deity, stressing His unique relationship to God the Father.

Several years ago, I was given a book titled A Gospel Primer for Christians, by Milton Vincent. In it, the author challenges us (all believers) to preach the gospel to ourselves every day to keep us from falling into a performance relationship with God. I commend it to you and want to encourage you to give thought to preaching the gospel, which is God’s “good story” to yourselves every day!

(* from The MacArthur Study Bible, Mark 1:1; 1997)

by Paul Schmidt, Elder

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