Trailblazer: Preparing the Way for Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

``I'll close with this. Repentance without Christ is despair. Repentance without Christ is despair. Had these people simply repented of their ways but not had a future hope in Christ, they would have been living in despair. Man, God, repented, but but where is my hope? Christ without repentance is self deception. To say I have Christ, but I haven't turned from my wicked ways. To say, oh, I love Christ, the savior, but I haven't actually repented. That is self deception. But repentance with Christ is the gospel. [00:38:36] (35 seconds)  #RepentWithChrist

Here's the beautiful part of the good news of the gospel. God doesn't say fix yourself and then come to me. No. He says turn towards me and you're gonna find me already there. That when we take a step back and we say, God, I I don't know what to do, but I'm gonna turn to you. God says, I'm already here and I'm ready to welcome you back and to give you direction. [00:22:38] (23 seconds)  #TurnToGodHeWaits

But also we need to have the humility to admit that it might not just be that it's just a season of wandering. Sometimes our wandering is the result of disobedience. This was true for Israel countless times, and I think it's true for us often as well. Maybe God has called us forward, but like Israel, we said no, and we didn't take the step of obedience that he was calling us to, and we're living in disobedience. And we're wondering, God, why haven't you told me what to do next? And he's sitting there going, because the last time I did, you said no. So until you do that thing, I'm not gonna give you more direction. [00:20:44] (36 seconds)  #ObedienceOpensDirection

And so the question for us isn't do we look radical enough? Do we have a life that is so radical that everybody sees us, that everybody looks at who we are, but rather the question really should be is are we actually living lives that match our message about Jesus? In other words, do the actions that we take, do the things that we do match with the fact that we preach the good news of Jesus Christ? Or do we live a life that is completely contradictory to that good news? [00:31:07] (32 seconds)  #WalkTheMessage

And this means if he is truly the son of God, if he is the Christ, that we don't get to change his message. That, yes, he is kind, he is compassionate, he's loving, but he's also just. And when we come across natures of his character that are maybe uncomfortable for us, we don't get to tweak them to fit our comfort zone. We don't get to edit God's claims, and we don't get to challenge his authority. And Mark starts out strong in telling us who Jesus is. [00:03:12] (28 seconds)  #NoEditingJesus

Have you ever felt like you're wandering in your walk with the Lord? God is distant. You don't know where he is, that you feel just like you're aimlessly wandering and wandering. You don't know what direction to go. You don't know if you should go left or if you should go right. You don't know what the next thing is for you. You don't know what God is telling you to do, and you just feel hopeless. I know I've been there many times where I want direction from the Lord, but he doesn't seem to be giving it. Where I want something real, but it's not there. [00:19:44] (35 seconds)  #FindGodInWandering

Maybe sometimes pride has crept in and we start to think, man, I can handle this. I can handle my own affairs. I can handle my marriage. I can handle my kids. I can handle my finances. I can handle my work. I can handle my fill in the blank, and we leave God out completely. And we're wandering, we're wandering, we're wondering, man, why isn't my marriage working? Why aren't my kids following the Lord? Why is my job so hard? Why am I financially struggling? And instead of turning to the Lord for wisdom and advice, we just say, nope, I got this. And that's our wandering. [00:21:20] (33 seconds)  #PrideBlocksGuidance

Mark shows us that our God has a name, that he is a very real person. He's not a myth. He's not a symbol. Rather, Jesus is a very real person who walked on this earth. Christianity rises and falls with with a real man in history. And in fact, Jesus is the most historically recorded person in all of human history. You will not find another man or woman who has walked this earth who has more recorded history about him than Jesus himself. [00:10:35] (31 seconds)  #JesusIsHistoricallyReal