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Thanks Marlee. Well hey everybody. Her name's Marlee, my name's Greg. I can't help myself

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sometimes, I'm sorry. Alright, so last week was the ninth anniversary of when we launched

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this church, but because of a water main break, we know that this week is actually the nine

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year anniversary of our first in-person worship gathering. And so, I feel a little hot if

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you don't mind pulling me down a little bit. And so, this past week I was actually talking

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to one of my spiritual overseers. You know, so Michael Omanara is in California, and then

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Corey Parker is in East Malene, and then the other spiritual overseer that I have is named

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Ross Parsley. He's in Austin, Texas. I know him from my days back at New Life Church in

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Colorado. He'd been there for 18 plus years before he went and planted a church in Austin.

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And this last week when I was talking to him, he just wanted to just extend just how proud

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he is of this church, that we are who we are, that God has done what he has done in this

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church, and he just reminded me that not all pastors in all churches make it to year nine,

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right? And so, it is a, and not to mention a pandemic wreaking havoc on how every church

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in America operated for a couple of years. And so, it really is something special that

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we're not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I just want to remind you that God

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has done something good here. I want to remind you that God has been good to us, and because

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God has been good to us that we can and have been good to others. We have fed hundreds

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and hundreds of people through the pantry that we lead at Earl Hanson. Michelle Marquis

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is the point person on that, and she just does a killer job of organizing that and making

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sure that all the food that we need is there. We have provided hundreds and hundreds of

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gifts to hundreds of kids that have been affected by the foster care system over the last, we've

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done that eight times, well we did it in 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. So, we've

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done that nine times for the last nine Christmases. We've provided gifts for kids that maybe would

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not have felt like, oh this Christmas morning is as special as they wanted it to be. This

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past Thursday, we sponsored the meal at Nest Cafe here in Rock Island, and when I was leaving,

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Laura, the one that started that ministry, said that we brought through more people than

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any other sponsor has ever brought through. So, round of applause, right? No, and it's

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not a competition, but it is, but I'm just saying we're the best. No, no, that's not

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in my notes. That wasn't the Holy Spirit that's not in my notes. But when we look at God,

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this is true, when we look at God, we will always end up looking at others. It's just

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how it works. If you look at God, he will have you look at others. And then our neighbor

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over here, Closet to Closet, the last few years, we've been asking them to partner

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with us in those gifts that we do for kids in the foster system, and so they've been

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here actually a few months longer than we have. The building, initially Jeff started

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it because he wanted us to have a home. That's just a smaller spot, and so it actually got

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done before us, and so they were starting their stuff in here a couple months before

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us. But we've never just said, okay, this is when we're going to do stuff with you,

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other than Christmas. And so I was just talking to Ali Haskell, who leads that ministry right

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now, that I think that once a month on a Thursday, that we need to start going, this is a Thursday

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night that we come and help, that we help load boxes, that we help organize things,

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we help sort things. And so I haven't decided what Thursday, maybe throw it out to the last

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Thursday of the month, last Thursday night of the month, probably get an email to that

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effect, that the last Thursday of the month, I would love it if we as a church could start

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building the relationship that we have with our building mate, that we can build and give

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into the ministry that they are doing, because what they are doing is so important. So you'll

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hear more about that as time goes by. God has done something good here. And I believe

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that his good work will continue as long as we are looking at him. So with that in mind,

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let's open our Bibles. Let's look at the book of Mark and see what Jesus is doing and what

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we are meant to learn. Let's open our Bibles to the book of Mark. It goes Matthew, Mark,

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Luke, John, and the New Testament. So if you see any of those, you know that you are in

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the right neighborhood. We went over Mark last week. Mark is the first gospel that was

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written. That's why the series is called the first gospel. And if you don't have a Bible,

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we have them on the bookshelf. Take one, one for your friend, feel free. Otherwise you

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can download it from a digital app store. And we do our best to have a tradition of

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giving the scriptures our full attention. Whatever makes sense for you to give the scriptures

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your attention, you can sit or you can stand if you'd like. You can stand with me as we

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read these scriptures. Okay? Here we go. Mark starting in chapter 1 verse 14 through 15.

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Just a couple of verses. Mark 1, 14. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee

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proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said, the kingdom of God has

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come near. Repent and believe the good news. Let us pray. God of every tribe, every tongue,

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every color, every nation, we thank you for the scriptures that they exist, that they

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have persisted throughout the millennia. I pray that whatever you have for us to learn

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today, pray that it would become a part of the framework of our faith. That our faith

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would become stronger, that we would become more like your son, Jesus. Amen. Thanks, y'all.

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Have a seat. Okay, so verse 14. The first thing that we're told is that John is in prison,

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alright? John, John the Baptist, we talked about him a bit last week. Now think, we're

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only 14 verses into this book, okay? 14 verses. Think about how jarring this is. If you're

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a reader back then and you knew just a little bit about the story, you didn't know exactly

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when things happened. You're reading and 14 verses in, suddenly one of the main characters

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is put in prison. Think about how jarring that is. Mark has framed all of this beautiful,

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rich imagery. What is happening and who is involved. We're reminded of creation, the

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first beginning and how this is a kind of new beginning. We're told that John, this

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John that is put in prison is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. We learned last week

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why Isaiah is so important and Mark shows us that Jesus is this kind of physical embodiment

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of heaven and earth becoming one, uniting the different branches of the people of God.

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We see Jesus resist temptation. We see him succeed where others had failed and then suddenly,

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verse 14, without explanation, no explanation, his forerunner, the one Isaiah spoke of, his

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friend, his actual cousin is thrown in prison and we're not told why. We're not even told

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by who until you get to chapter six. We find out in chapter six that it's because John

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was calling out the adulterous sins of a local Jewish ruler. His name was Herod, Herod Antipas.

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He was the son of the same Herod that had tried to kill Jesus when Jesus was a child.

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When Herod the Great died, his territory was split up amongst his sons and this territory

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was under Herod Antipas. We actually know that John never made it out of prison. You

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read the rest of the, oh, spoiler alert? My bad, my bad, he dies. There's this video online

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right now of like a fake Bible study and a guy that's sitting there and he's never heard

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the story and someone goes and then later when Jesus gets crucified he's like, spoiler

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alerts? He dies? Yeah, so the Book of Luke tells us that later when Jesus is on trial

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before his crucifixion that he actually stands before this same Herod and that is actually

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the first time that they meet. The reason I'm pointing that out is because here in Mark

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1 when John the Baptist is arrested, Jesus doesn't go to Herod and demand his release.

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Jesus doesn't pick up and go and talk to Herod and try and talk him out of whether it is

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that he had in mind. Instead it says that he picked up where John left off preaching

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and saying, the time has come, the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe the

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good news. Now this is a pretty famous phrase that even if you didn't grow up in church,

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even if you weren't a regular church goer, you've probably heard part of this. If you

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haven't heard part of this, you've probably at least seen part of this scrawled across

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the poster that someone's holding up on the corner. Repent, repent. We have to ask ourselves

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what is repentance? What is this good news? Repentance can be translated as simply as

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this y'all. Two words, reverse course. Those are the two words that it is translated. Reverse

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course, turnaround, change directions. Jesus is saying what he is saying right here isn't

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all that different than what God has been saying for the entire Bible. Right? I feel

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like I'm getting a feedback. So this is the same thing that John was saying. It's the

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same thing that Isaiah was saying. It's the same thing that every prophet, every judge,

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every religious ruler had ever been saying. If you go all the way back to the beginning,

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it's the message that God gave to Cain, one of the first children. Right? God gives the

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same message to Cain when he was being tempted to kill his brother. He doesn't use the same

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words, but God says, you know the right thing to do. He says, you know the right thing to

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do as you're being tempted to hurt your brother. And if you do not change directions, sin is

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crouching at your door. He's saying, turn around, change directions, reverse course,

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repent. That's it. It's not a scary word. As much as some people try to make it be,

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what makes repent a difficult word is how we choose to use it. And I wonder if at least

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in this case, if we, if Christianity is using it the same way that Jesus is using it. Because

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what does Jesus say? He says, repent and what? Believe. Believe what? This good news. So

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what is this good news? The word in Greek for good news just means news that brings

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joy. Think about the pairing here between what we typically feel about the word repent

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and the concept that good news is news that brings joy. The word that is translated from

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Greek to good news is also the same word that is translated gospel. It's the same word,

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gospel, good news. Now back then the word for gospel or good news, it wasn't as much

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of a word like that it was owned by religion as much as it was a cultural word. Back then

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the gospel, the good news, it was anything that they believed to be history changing.

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If something was world shaped, that was world shaping, was happening, they'd ask, hey, did

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you hear the gospel? Hey, did you hear the good news? In a lot of cases, it was a word

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connected to propaganda. It's a word emperors would use about their conquests. It's how

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they describe their own greatness. When they would conquer something, they would send someone

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ahead, good news, you are now ruled by so and so. Listen to how they began this inscription

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about the birth and coronation of a Roman emperor. It says, these are the words, the

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beginning of the gospel of Caesar Augustus. Now anyone that was here last week should

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be asking, why does that sound familiar? Why is that? Or anyone that has read the book

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of Mark? Think about it. How did Mark begin his gospel about Jesus? Mark 1 says word for

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word, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only is Mark pointing us back

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to creation, but Mark is stealing. And Jesus is stealing and reclaiming and repurposing

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the words of empire. See, Jesus doesn't go to Herod and demand John be released because

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Herod was a puppet king for an earthly empire. Jesus is interested in a different kingdom.

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Instead Jesus uses the words of empire and conquest, the words of world shaping news

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about his kingdom. He says, believe this gospel, believe this good news because this news will,

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will literally shape the world. The Roman empire is gone. The kingdom of heaven is still

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here. Jesus is proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven has come near and that he is the

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king. Now, let's circle back around to repentance in the context of this, right? And the question

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of whether we are using it like Jesus is using it in this passage. The context of this story

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tells us Jesus isn't simply calling people to think about their sins. He's not calling

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them, just think about how generally bad you are. That's not the context of what he's saying.

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He's not asking them to think about their mistakes. He's calling them to change courses,

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to change directions, to turn around and repent of what kingdom they follow. What kingdom

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they think is in charge. For a people like the Jews who remember, it's like extreme home

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makeover emperor edition. Remember? How many times who was in charge of their land had

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changed hands. Now Jesus is telling them there is a kingdom that will last forever. It has

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come near. Repent of who you think is in charge. Repent of even who it looks like is in charge.

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And believe this good news. This is repentance. This is the good news that Jesus is king.

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That Jesus brings a new kingdom and that we can follow him. Instead of kings like Herod,

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Caesar, or America, or ourselves. So what do we do with that? How do we participate

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with any of this? Really honestly that's what the rest of this series is about. The passage

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right after this shows Jesus calling his disciples. And then it shows him healing and it shows

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him teaching. It shows him liberating people from evil spirits. It shows him praying. It

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shows people dropping their nets, throwing away their careers so that they can follow

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Jesus so that they can be Talmudim. Talmud is a word for disciple. Talmudim is to be

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a group of disciples and to be one of these disciples meant that you wanted to look at

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the rabbi you followed and to be everything you saw them be. And so the rest of this series

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is us looking at Jesus. Deciding do I want to be like what I see Jesus be? One of the

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weeks is about him confronting religious leaders. Do we want to be that? Are we comfortable

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with that? So that's what I'm going to spend the rest of this series talking about. Mark

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shows us what Jesus is like by extension, what his disciples became, and by extension

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what we are meant to do and become. But today, for just a minute here as I close, I want

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to acknowledge that tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And there was this jarring moment

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where the other day I was at an event and someone said, hey, the next holiday coming

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up is Valentine's Day, so what are your plans? And in my head I go, no, Monday is Martin

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Luther King Jr. Day. And this thing that is so important in the history of our country,

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it kind of gets treated like, yeah, some people get school off. But I want to acknowledge

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that 55 years ago, this coming April, that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated for

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many reasons, but in large part because he was trying to look at Jesus. He was trying

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to liberate. He was trying to heal. He was trying to teach. His day, Dr. King was looking

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around and he did not see the kingdom of God, or rather, maybe I should say, he didn't see

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the country that professed to be Christian reflecting the kingdom of God. Because many

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of us, like me at least, that have white skin, knowingly or unknowingly have benefited from

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how earthly empires work. Kingdoms that diminish people groups based on their ethnic or racial

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background. Our skin, our attitudes, and our actions have too often reflected earthly empires

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instead of God's heavenly kingdom. Repent and believe this good news. Too often we have

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taken the concept of repentance and gone, oh, I've repented of the sins I know about,

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and I believe this good news that Jesus saves me without the extension of believing that

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his kingdom is supposed to bring life to everyone. My hope is that this year that we continue

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as individuals, as a church, to reject racism, to continue to change our course whenever

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we see that is necessary, whenever the spirit convicts us that we will grow in our anti-racism

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and that this church, this house, continues to become a safer church for people of all

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backgrounds. Because I've talked to different people in this room, I've said the point of

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a church isn't just to be safe, it is to continually be safer. Because Jesus is the king of this

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kingdom. Jesus is always saying, change courses, believe this joyful news, this news that brings

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joy, that your hearts be changed. Abandon your careers, abandon your loyalty to your

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empires. Instead, follow me. Amen? Let's pray. God, I thank you for the life of Martin Luther

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King Jr., but I thank you for the life of every person in this room that can use their

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voice, that can use their life to be like you. To speak up, to speak out, to act boldly

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as you have acted, to offer life in a kingdom that is unlike any other kingdom on this earth.

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I pray that you would teach us to change directions, to turn around, to reverse course every way

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that you reveal to us. Plus, listen to our brothers and sisters, that their hearts be

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open to the way that you speak to us. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.