"Time's Up!"
Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." Scholars believe that this statement is the most concise summary of the message of Jesus in the New Testament. If anyone were to ask what the primary message of Jesus was, the typical answers would be, “love,” or “service,” or “obedience.” See what’s happened? We’ve substituted the fruit for the tree. We’ve exchanged the primary with the periphery. The primary message of Jesus was that the Kingdom of God was bursting in through his ministry. A result of this fact was that he modeled love, service, and obedience. The in-breaking Kingdom of God was the impetus – the galvanization – for everything Jesus said and did. In fact, the default question we can ask of everything Jesus said and did can be, “What does this tell us about the Kingdom of God?” But what is the “Kingdom of God...