Suggested Texts for Sunday, December 10th - Advent 2

Featured Media · see all
"Prepare the Way" is a Title Still containing a Title Layout and two unique Content Layouts. Download Jpegs in both 16:9 (widescreen) and 4:3 (standard) format or PowerPoint presentations ready for your bullet points. Take full creative control and download the layered Photoshop file (PSD).
"The Wilderness Witness" is a Title Still containing a Title Layout and two unique Content Layouts. Download Jpegs in both 16:9 (widescreen) and 4:3 (standard) format or PowerPoint presentations ready for your bullet points. Take full creative control and download the layered Photoshop file (PSD).

This Week's Sermons · see all
This Week's Illustrations
Sermon Series

Trending Social

Text and Tools
John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way" -- 3 "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' " 4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."


Overview and Insights

Jesus, the Suffering Son of God, Prepares for Public Ministry (1:1–8): Unlike Matthew and Luke, which begin with Jesus’s birth, the Gospel of Mark jumps right to the public ministry of Jesus. The good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begins with the ministry of John the Baptizer followed by the baptism and temptation of Jesus.

 

Mark’s opening line, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” tells us what to expect from the whole book: “good news.” Specifically the news will feature Jesus, the “Christ” or Messiah (8:29; 9:41; 12:35; 13:21; 14:61; 15:32). He is the much-anticipated king and ruler sent by God …

The Baker Bible Handbook by J. Daniel Hays, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Baker Commentary

The first verse of Mark summarizes the content of the Gospel and functions as its de facto title. The opening word, “Beginning,” recalls the opening word of Genesis (so too the book of Hosea and Gospel of John), implying that in the gospel of Jesus Christ a new creation is at hand. “Beginning” should probably be understood not as the first of several things in a sequence but rather first in terms of “source” or “essence.” Mark’s Gospel thus intends to set forth the essence of God’s redemptive work in Jesus Christ. The word “gospel” does not mean a book but rather the story of salvation in Jesus. The Greek word for “gospel” means “good news.” Several verses in the Greek Old Testament use the term in this sense (1 Sam. 31:9; 2 Sam. 1:20; 1 Chron. 10:9), and even in the Greco-Roman world th…

The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary by Gary M. Burge, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Dictionary Terms

Direct Matches

Baptism
Baptism in the Spirit
Baptism with the Spirit
Belt
Camel's Hair
Clothed
Clothes
Clothing
Desert
John the Baptist
Latchet
Leather
Locust
Path
Remission
River
Sandals
Shoe
Shoes
Son of God
Spirit Baptism
Water
Wilderness

Secondary Matches

The following suggestions occured because Mark 1:1-8 is mentioned in the definition.
Badger Skins
Book of Malachi
Crawling Things
Dress
Filled With the Spirit
Forerunner
Garments
Insects
Porpoise
Rivers and Waterways
Sash
Sea Cow
Synoptic Gospels

The Christian Post
News