COV LIFE BLOG

Mark 1:9-13 – The Beginning of the Ministry of Jesus

The fact is that we are surrounded by an invisible spiritual kingdom, with great forces, both of evil and of good, playing upon us. In that kingdom, Jesus is Lord, Jesus reigns supreme. And that kingdom governs all the events of history, and all the events of our daily lives and circumstances. So that when we are related to the kingdom of God, we are related to the ultimate force which governs everything we are and have, and thus we are related to reality.
 
Jesus came with the good news that all the power of God is now available to break the helpless deadlock into which man has fallen. Scripture tells us that man in his natural condition is helpless. No matter how much we like to think we are able to do something to correct our condition, we would be absolutely helpless and hopeless without the aid of God.
 
But it is the mercy of God. The good news is that a breakthrough has occurred. God’s power has broken through. Jesus came to announce that the King is at hand, the One who can master a life, put it in order, bring peace and harmony into it, and supply a power which will produce a character no one else can rival. That is the kingdom of God. It is not meat and drink, says Paul, “but righteousness and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit,” (Romans 14:17). The kingdom is at hand. And the place to gain it is the place of repentance.

Ray Stedman

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SCRIPTURES FOR THIS SUNDAY
Read Mark 1:9-13. In this passage we see the inauguration of the ministry of Jesus, the one who came in power to accomplish what we could not. Do you marvel often at Jesus’ coming? What hinders you from doing so?

SONG FOR THIS WEEK
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous) by Chris Tomlin