Welcome to Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas. In season 2, Pastor Jim is leading us in a study of Mark. Today’s passage is Mark 6:14-29.
“For the great and powerful of this world, there are only two places in which their courage fails them, of which they are afraid deep down in their souls, from which they shy away. These are the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ. No powerful person dares to approach the manger, and this even includes King Herod. For this is where thrones shake, the mighty fall, the prominent perish, because God is with the lowly. Here the rich come to nothing, because God is with the poor and hungry, but the rich and satisfied he sends away empty. Before Mary, the maid, before the manger of Christ, before God in lowliness, the powerful come to naught; they have no right, no hope; they are judged.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas
“If the kingdom of heaven is at hand, as John the Baptist says, then all our other kingdoms are called radically into question, including my own private kingdom, and yours.”
– Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ
“Not until we take God seriously will we ever take sin seriously.”
– R.C. Sproul
“Grace takes sin seriously or there would be no need for grace, so real faith in God’s grace never results in not caring about sin.”
– Paul Tripp
Both John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth were preaching repentance and calling people to faith as the way to enter God’s new kingdom and begin living under its blessings and provisions. Let’s be quick to repent and put our faith in Jesus Christ. He is our hope in life and death!
