Mark 1: 1-13
Go back with me in time for a moment or two this morning. Think about the last time you were in school. For some of you its been a long time for others you only need to think back to Friday. 
Remember when the teacher would say at the beginning of the year, “Here is the reading assignment, please read this and know that occasionally we will have pop quizzes to test your knowledge of what you are reading.” The first week you read the assignment and come back to class and there is no pop quiz. The second week you read the assignment and come back to class and there is no pop quiz. The third week on Friday the teacher says, “Here are fifty pages that I want you to read by Monday.” You go to class on Monday and the teacher says. Put everything away; take out a pencil and a sheet of paper it’s time for a pop quiz.”
I am going for a feeling here. Are you starting to feel something in the pit of your stomach? You read the first two weeks but this past weekend came and went and you never got around to even opening the book. Now here you are and the questions are coming from the teacher and you have no idea. You get your paper back and there is a big red F at the top of the page.
Why do teachers give tests? Is it to make you feel miserable? No if they are a good instructor they are giving you this test to help you master the material or to help you be prepared in your field of study.
Tests are given to teach us to prepare. As humans we tend to shy away from preparedness. We tend to procrastinate and put off things that could make us prepared for the future.
In the first thirteen verses of Mark chapter one, we learn that God has a special plan for preparing those that He wants to be His servants. Servant is not a bad word in the context of serving God and serving others.
God has a plan that causes us to prepare.
Three ways to approach studying the Bible:
1. What does it say? Observation
2. What does it mean? Interpretation
3. What does it mean to us? Application
The title of the book:
“1Here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.[a]”
The source: Quoting from Malachi 3:1, Isaiah 40:3 It was not uncommon for N.T. writer to sew or blend together the sayings of different prophets.
2In the book of the prophet Isaiah, God said, "Look, I am sending my messenger before you, and he will prepare your way.[b] 3 He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: `Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming! Make a straight road for him!'[c] "
If you would research these words you would find that they were words of judgment. Israel had strayed so often that God would tire of it. The people were running away from God and Malachi is saying when God sends his messenger you are going to be in big trouble. In Isaiah 40:3, God is saying the same thing but He is saying in essence, I know you have blown it time after time but now I am going to send you someone who will help you find forgiveness.
This is formed in God’s mind, given to the prophets and now there was one coming who was going to prepare the way for judgment and hope. The fulfillment of this message is in the next verse:
4This messenger was John the Baptist. He lived in the wilderness and was preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned from their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.[d]
From the Amplified Bible: 4John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness (desert), preaching a baptism [[d]obligating] repentance ([e]a change of one's mind for the better, heartily amending one's ways, with abhorrence of his past sins) in order [f]to obtain forgiveness of and release from sins.
What was the response?
5People from Jerusalem and from all over Judea traveled out into the wilderness to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
The people were pouring out of the cities to be baptized by John the Baptist. When a gentile became a Jew baptism was necessary to demonstrate that they had changed their mind and that they were now in a right relationship with God. For over 300 years there had been no word from God and John shows up dressed like the Old Testament prophet Elijah and he is proclaiming to Israel that they have drifted so far from God that they need to not only repent but that they need to be baptized to demonstrate the seriousness of their past drifting. He was treating them like a bunch of gentiles.
6His clothes were woven from camel hair, and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey. 7He announced: "Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am--so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave.[e] 8I baptize you with[f] water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!"
John’s message is that there is one coming that will do so much more than I am able to do. He will truly bring you forgiveness for sins and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and empower you to follow Him.
9One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and he was baptized by John in the Jordan River.
Mark’s version of this story is what would be called the Dragnet version. It is Sgt. Joe Friday saying, “Just the facts, just give me the facts.” There is no explanation of why He is being baptized. Mark is just giving the facts. Here is the Father’s response:
10And when Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens split open and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven saying, "You are my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with you."
Jesus identifies with the sinfulness of man, not because He sinned, but because this is His mission and He gets the approval of the Father.
12Immediately the Holy Spirit compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness. 13He was there for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him.
Mark doesn’t tell us anything about what happened in the wilderness. The wilderness in Israel is not some place you would want to go let alone spend forty days. Remember last week, I told you that the gospels by themselves are just a one sided view of story of Jesus Christ. We know from reading the other three gospels what happened while Jesus was in the wilderness. Think with me for a moment. This is what Mark is saying happened:
The good news began in the mind of a Sovereign God. He gives it to the prophets who tell about it and then John the Baptist comes on the scene to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus who brings with Him salvation and forgiveness. This message of good news, (gospel) came to the early church around 64 A.D. when people were being tortured and burned and fed to lions for faith. They desperately needed some good news.
14Later on, after John was arrested by Herod Antipas, Jesus went to Galilee to preach God's Good News. 15"At last the time has come!" he announced. "The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!"
Mark is all about saying that there is hope for a world that has gone mad. His focus in verses one through thirteen have to do with Jesus preparation for the ministry He was sent to do.
How can we use this? How should we understand this for us today? We are going to learn how Jesus prepared for ministry. Last week I talked about the goal of Mark’s writing was to call us to follow Jesus. If we are going to do that then we need to learn how He prepared and trained.
To do this we need to look at an entire spectrum of scripture. In the lives of people who were used of God and make it into the Bible with their story there are clearly five major phases in these men and women. God takes them through these phases so that they will be prepared. We need to know these so we can identify where we are in these phases of our spiritual lives. These five phases are not always in an exact order but more often than not you can find all or most of these phases in the call of God into a person’s life. 
1. The Discovery Phase: We learn God’s sovereign design and often our role in it. At some point in time there is a discovery phase in the lives of a Christ follower. God’s design has always been for His follower’s to take His message to the streets and everyday life. 
2. The Development Phase: Where God develops our character. Routine obedience and convictions are coming into place. This is where God teaches us faithfulness in the little things. A lot of people want to skip over or around this phase. The Bible clearly addresses the use of novices in ministry. Ministry is tough. It is not easy. There is no room for egos, pride or territorial struggles. We do ministry for one reason and that is to honor God and do His will. Don’t run from the development phase, you need it.
Joseph: 30 years of development
Moses: 40 years, makes a mistake and gets another 40 years.
Paul: Taught by the greatest Rabi in Jewish history but after coming to Christ he is led by God into the dessert for a time of development. (3 years)
David: David developed in the field watching sheep. Faithfulness in the little things causes us to prepare for anything big God might want to do with us. 
3. The Initial Deployment Phase: Usually sponsored by another person. You are asked to help out doing something. You get a chance to do something small but you often discover your dependency on God and others. We do nothing alone. There is a point in time where you get a taste of ministry. It is in this time we learn interdependency.
Joseph: Potipher gave him a chance to run his house.
David: sponsored by Jonathon
Paul: sponsored by the early disciples
Barnabas: sponsored John Mark
I preached my first sermon in a downtown mission in the city of Cincinnati. I remember the surreal feeling of those early days of preaching. 
4. The Defining Moment Phase: You understand God’s plan. You’ve watched God call and use others. Three things will often happen here:
Paul: conversion and early teaching day. 
5. The Duration Phase: This produces life maturity.
David says yes to God and starts running from Saul.
God is preparing us for the journey of life and the ministry.
God isolates us: Isolation keeps us from depending on anything but Him.
God puts us in conflict: God uses this to strengthen us. (weight lifting) If you do too much too quick in weight lifting it will be overly painful. Use dumbbell
Four principles:
Personal story of ministry: In the 90’s I served in ministry outside of pastoring a church. Toward the end of that decade my wife and I knew that God was preparing me for something. A new challenge. A new task. We felt a transition coming but for a couple of years had no idea where that would take us. I served as an editor or two magazines and director of a communications department. I served as a vice president for development at a small college. There was an opportunity to become a district superintendent over about 100 churches in nine states but that didn’t feel right. There were numerous churches in different states but none felt right so we moved from one city to another. We built a house and moved in and just about the time the family was settling down and into this transition the call came to come to Newark. The rest is history but there is a lot of history that you don’t know. It is not always easy to follow God where He leads you. Every move doesn’t have to be a move up. Sometimes He calls us to pick up our cross and follow Him.
Jesus Christ plus nothing is sufficient!
We’ve been talking this morning about the call of God. I want to talk to you from my heart for a moment in the closing moments of this message. Every Christ follower is called to do something for God. It may play out in what you do at work or it may take place in your neighborhood or in your home or even within the ministries in the church.
In one month on Easter weekend, Real Life Community church is going launch as a church in the east end of this city. We have talked about it and you have watched video’s about it and most of you heard Pastor Chris share a great message a couple of weeks ago. Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent in preparing the building and it’s getting very close to being ready. The surrounding community and neighborhood is full of needs. Both social and spiritual needs are everywhere. It is a mission field. America is a mission field.
I want to remind you of some things. We are not refocusing this church because we just thought it would be a fun idea. What we are doing at Real Life is at the heart of where we are going as a church. In essence it is “real life.”
I believe we are in a very dangerous time as a church. It would be very easy for us to slip into the consumeristic mindset that plagues most of the American church. We are not trying to cater to the wants and wishes of church people who have controlled so much of the lukewarm church in America. We are trying very hard to be a living organism that spreads the gospel of Jesus Christ into our neighborhoods and into the neediest places in this city.
Some of you have felt the tugging and pull of Real Life but you don’t know how to leave the comfort of this place. I understand in some ways but to be honest about it in many ways I long for us to be consumed with a passion for lost people that would motivate us out of the safety of these walls and into the mission field. There are people that desperately need for someone to show them the love of Jesus. I am calling some of you out this morning. I am asking you to prayerfully consider, seriously consider engaging in this work. Will it be easy? No. Will it be like this church? No it is a church with its own identity.
Through the atrocities of World War II came an unmistakable lesson on compassion and commitment. A young Jewish boy from Poland was rounded up by the Nazi troops to be shot with his family and neighbors. They were forced to dig a common grave then the soldiers gunned them down. The bullets ripped through all those around him, but he miraculously escaped injury. In trauma, he collapsed among the corpses and was buried as dead. The shallow grave provided just enough air to sustain him until nightfall. He then clawed his way out and ran for safety. His dirty, naked body was covered with blood and did not solicit a welcome from the homes he encountered. In the shivering cold he begged for help, but each resident turned him away for fear of the Germans. In desperation, he tried a different approach. He timidly knocked at the door and cried, “Don’t you recognize me? I am the Jesus you say you love.” A compassionate woman embraced the little boy, took him in, and raised him as her own. Compassion is best realized when we recognize others as the Jesus we say we love. Who Switched the Price Tags, Tony Campolo, 1986
That’s it in a little story. Have you heard the call of God in your life? Have you been thinking about your life lately and realizing you want to do something that counts? I encourage you this morning, start praying like you have never prayed before. Start exercising faith like you never have.
For some who are discouraged because it just doesn’t seem to be working out. Don’t quit.
You are on a journey. Devote yourself to the journey of discovering and pursuing who God has called you to be.
If you bail out when it gets tough you will miss out on the best that God has. You are being tested and the exam is tough but you need to stick with it. Don’t bail out. Don’t quit. Allow the struggle to bring out the best in you.