Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, July 17, 2022

The Gospel of Second Chances.

Today, Pastor Michael is at the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Here, Christ means ‘the anointed one’, the Savior sent from God in a special role as The Savior.  

Mark is the Second Chance gospel writer.  Mark was taken under the wing of Simon Peter and they bonded.  Mark became his assistant, Peter considered Mark a son.  Mark’s book is essentially the memoirs of Peter!  So why the ‘Second Chance' moniker?

We first learn of Mark when Paul and Barnabas are planning their first missionary trip and Barnabas had suggested that his nephew, Mark, come along as a helper. But early into this  mission Mark bails out and returns home to Jerusalem.  So when they have a second mission journey, guess what?  Paul choses Silas as his partner but Barnabas chooses Mark, essentially giving him a second chance.   

We all have a bit of Mark in us; we all mess up, we all make mistakes.  Second chances are a way of redeeming ourselves and helping others. 

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) 1:1. The first verse of Mark summarizes the content of the Gospel. “The beginning” recalls the opening words of Genesis, implying that in the gospel of Jesus Christ a new creation is at hand. “Beginning” should probably be understood as the 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,” or “good news” (cf. 1 Sm 31:9; 2 Sm 1:20; 1 Ch 10:9), means the story of salvation in Jesus. For Mark, the advent of Jesus is “good news” because it fulfills God’s promise of release from sin and oppression and the proclamation of peace foretold by the prophet Isaiah (52:7; 61:1–3).

Verses can be found today in Mark 1: 1, forward.