Sermon Central
-
The Beginning
Contributed by Gaither Bailey on Dec 4, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: A communion meditation on why one must receive the Holy Spirit before testifying to the power of God in your life.
Mark 1: 1 – 8 / The Beginning
Intro: Listen to these words from an old hymn: “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide. In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side, some great cause God’s new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, and the choice goes by forever ‘twixt the darkness and the light.”
I. VS. 1 – Mark says this is the “beginning of the good news”
A. John was the sign to Jesus that NOW was the time!
B. Come, change, receive! Now is the time to decide!
C. Many people believe the first two words of Christian mission are “go” and “do.” / That is so hard to do. / You must first “come” and “receive.” You must have something to take with you before you can go.
II. If you try to pump water from an empty well, all you’ll get is air.
A. We come to receive God’s word that we might be empowered to be Christ’s disciples so that we can GO and EMPOWER others
B. We come to this table during these sacred days to receive spiritual food to sustain us in the GOING and DOING.
C. “Isaiah 40: 3 – A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Conclu: Come and receive that this may be the beginning of the good news of Christ Jesus, the Son of God in this place and in this community.
