Why is the gospel the good news?

Because it is an announcement:

if I had something good and keep it to myself, the good thing remains with me. The gospel is not the gospel without an announcement. Luke 1:19 "I am Gabriel," the angel answered. "I stand in the presence of God, who sent me to speak to you and tell you this good news. This angel came with good news that Mary was to be with child and this child is to be the savior of the human race.

The announcement has got something to do with you:

If someone came with good news and told you that he actually carries with him good news and such news has got nothing to do with you, the excitement levels will drop but if the news has got something to do with you, and something at would change your world completely, it would suddenly change your countenance and will warm your heart and depending with the intensity of the news, in ways that you cannot fathom. The announcement has something to do with the whole world. The news is that Mary was to carry within her the savior of the world. The gospel is a universal message. Jesus is the remedy for the sins not ours only but also of the whole world (1 john 2:2) We owe it to Jesus that the course of history has changed for the whole world. He came not be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The announcement changes the whole course of history.

The child is to become the savior of the whole human race. He is the Wonderful counselor, mighty God everlasting father, prince of peace.

Jesus was the son of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law in order that they may receive adoption as sons. Gal 4:4-5. He has come to change your history. You who were condemned in sin to be set free from its yoke. The Gospel has got something to do with the whole world and something to do with you! And that’s a game changer. It means that the course of your history is changed. You are no longer a person without a God and hope in this world! Don’t feel excluded from this announcement join in by opening your heart and get ready for a world full of fresh possibilities!

Be cross conscious.

1st Cor 2:2” for I decided to know among you except christ and him crucified.”

This is what Paul was determined about,to know and to be identified with  and he plunged his life wholesomely to proclaim the gospel. Paul was determined to be cross conscious ad he reiterates this else where he says that he is not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation.(rom 1:16-17)

Paul elsewhere says that all he has known throughout his life he considers as dung for the sake of knowing Christ.philippians 3:7 

God wants you to be cross conscious. He wants you to be aware of the cross and what Christ has accomplished for you.

Christ wants you to know that though his cross you may have eternal life which is knowing God and knowing Christ. He wants you to know that by looking into the cross and seeing the glory of Christ in the face of God, you are daily transformed.

Like Paul today purpose to no nothing other than Christ and him crucified. When Christ is removed from the cross, we remain with a rudderless ,directionless christianity.

Christ crucified means a lot of things. It means you have been united with Christ, in death burial and resurrection .We are not in an uphill task of trying to be united with him.  It means that now its no longer you who lives but Christ and the life that you live you live in the faith of the son of God (Gal 2:20). This means that Christ has taken over whole of your life if you are in him. The truth is that to be cross conscious means that you are aware that you are united with Christ forever. If you have been crucified with him , you are also living with him. What a wonderful truth to know, that you and I are forever united with Christ and this is what God has chosen for us in Christ Jesus. You may know choose to know nothing other than what God has chosen for you in Christ Jesus.

The Immediacy of the gospel..

I am in awe of how the gospel of mark unfolds. The uniqueness of this gospel unfolds with the use of phrases ‘soon, immediatly, at once’. This theme to me shows haste and immediacy with which the gospel must be communicated out and its results seen.

Mark the author is not concerned with the account of Jesus’ history nor is he concerned with the circumstances of his birth and growth but he just plunges us into the deep of activity straight like a block buster movie with a scene that looks like its climax in the beginning.

The immediacy of the gospel; Jesus the man of immediate action.

Its in chapter 1 and mark has already thrown us into the thrust of Jesus; ministry. He introduces us to John Baptist who at the sight of Jesus sees a man of action and destiny. A man who needed to baptize John not the other way around.

Matt3:14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you

When you are reading the gospel of mark get ready for phrases ‘soon, immediately and at once.

Mark 1:30Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 

We see here Jesus and his disciples in the mission field going around villages and proclaiming the good news being accompanied by miracles. It made me excited to see Jesus already on the move in chapter 1. Every time I decide to go through the gospel of Mark, I conclude that Mark is one interesting author.

In their trip, they decided to pass by Simon peter mother’s home on hearing that she was ill. Jesus makes it important in his mission to pass there. This teaches us that Jesus will attend to the matters at hand that troubles us in the depths of our homes. While we serve Jesus, let us know that he will also attend to our matters with immediacy. This we don’t usually see it come to play the way we want it. The immediacy with which our lord Jesus operates does not usually agree with how soon, how immediate we want things to pan out in our lives. That’s why we must keep focusing our mental faculties on the things above where Christ is… Colossians 3:1.

The immediacy of the gospel causes a healing of the body and soul so immediate and complete. 

Mark1;31 Jesus went to her. He took hold of her hand and helped her up. The fever left her, and she served them a meal.

The healing was immediate, there was nothing to argue with the power that was in Christ. The healing so immediate and complete such that Simon Peter’s mum began serving them a meal. May God move in your house, in the matters affecting with such a great intensity and immediacy.

The outflow of a healed body and soul ought to be a heartfelt service such as we see being employed by Peter’s mum.

I see an absolute certainty, immediacy and completeness with how Jesus carried out his ministry on this earth. Remember the feeding of the five thousand for example? While the disciples were calculating how to make a trip to the market to get food supply enough to feed over 5,000 people, Jesus already had an immediate solution.

Jesus will take your hand and immediately help you up.

No matter what you are going through Jesus is always present. He is your ever-present help in time of need. This means that we can count on his immediate help instead of meandering and wallowing in the wilderness of worry. May he hold your hand and help you up today. You are very likely to get well and you will likely overflow with gratitude and service.

Fellow excellencies

We in Kenya have gently and rapidly slept into an electioneering and campaign mood courtesy of the BBI talk and the upcoming 2022 election. There re myriads of people in the political class who want to be remain relevant and somehow maintain a royal lifestyle. The allure for power is pregnant in the minds and lips of many. We in Christ however have a more excellent and honorable calling as we are going to investigate shortly. 1st Peter 2:9” But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellency of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” You and I are called to display the Excellency/eminent goodness of the Lord. We are called a chosen race with Jesus being the first born of creation. We are of the creation of God and also of salvation orchestrated by Christ at the cross. Before man, we may have no royal rating. We may appear as items of dishonor but not before God. We are called a royal priesthood. This is to tell us that we are of the royal family of Christ, elected chosen and born into the family of God with Jesus being our first born and coheirs to the throne of God. Our mission should therefore be to proclaim the goodness of God who has brought us to his kingdom. We are for the display of his splendor and as we do so we are glorified in him. He is the one who is glorified by our lives but we are also made great in him. we become royal to him. We do not only serve him but we are also royal in nature. God sees us as kingly and Jesus is the king among many kings and he is the Lord among many lords. Its apparent in scripture that we will reign with him forever Meanwhile we are invited to take what the enemy had stolen from man and start reigning with him even presently. You are royal; you are a priest to minister the life of God to many. You have been filled in Christ and have been made royal in Christ Jesus, Amen.

of chaos. wind and storms

 

If there is something that 2020 has shown us is chaos and tempest. Before even the year settled on its feet, a worldwide pandemic struck the world and of colossal proportion because it has affected every fabric of our day to day living. We started to see wave after wave of mass infections and death, business that once thrived were brought to their knees, airlines were cut off from business, hotel industry almost became nonexistent as well as the massive global tourism and so much.

The chaos even so much was felt by families, communities, employers to employees; life has generally been turned upside down. Talking about chaos, this is not the first time we are facing a global pandemic. Who remembers the swine flu, SARS, Ebola and the great Spanish flu of the 1900?

These kind of occurrences can be likened to a mighty tempest, or a storm that shipwrecks any vessel on its sight. Scientists estimate that some of these winds causing the mighty typhoons and hurricanes travel up to a speed of 200km per hour. That’s not anything near a snail velocity.

These are just physical expressions of how chaotic a tempest or a storm can be. What of chaos and storm that can ravage a human heart because the peace in it has been disturbed?

Let’s delve into scripture.

 

Mark 4 :37-39And a great storm of wind came up, and the waves came into the boat, so that the boat was now becoming full.

Mar 4:38  And he himself was in the back of the boat, sleeping on the cushion: and they, awaking him, said, Master, is it nothing to you that we are in danger of destruction?

Mar 4:39 And he came out of his sleep, and gave strong orders to the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be at rest. And the wind went down, and there was a great calm (BBE-Bible in basic English)

 

Great storm of wind can rock the boat of your life. What do you do when your life has suddenly been unsettled by strong wind causing storms of epic proportions in your life, because you see whether you like it or not if you are in the sea which is this world you’re likely to face storms which come to disrupt your life.

In the scenario in the passage above, Jesus and the disciples were about to board their boat to cross the sea of Galilee to the other side of the shore. Jesus had just delivered some powerful teachings about the kingdom of God by the sea side and had ordered the disciples to get into the boat to sail to the other side but strong winds came up and waves came into the boat and Jesus slept soundly right in the thick of things! Astonishing!

This scenario can be likened to the storms we face of life, it could be storms of loss like that which faced job or storms of conspiracy and battle like that which came into David’s life before he became the king of Israel. It could be storms of diseases plaguing your body or a mixture of storms threatening to topple the vessel of your life. What encouragements can we draw from the passage above?

 

1.       Its Jesus who said “Let’s get to the other side” Every storm has the other side. Every journey has a before and after. Jesus has promised to carry us safe to the other side. Is there anything too hard for him? Isn’t it he who started it? He shall surely transport you safely to the other side.

2.       He is asleep in your boat. Not unconcerned but rested…. And he himself was on the back of the boat sleeping on a cushion. You see you are the one perturbed by the waves not Jesus. Why have you forgotten his mighty works by the seaside shore so quickly? Hasn’t he performed for you before? Why should he fail you now? Why should you wail as if the master has vacated your life and left you to your own defenses?

3.     
…  And he came out of his sleep, and gave strong orders to the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be at rest. And the wind went down, and there was a great calm.

Like a starring in a blockbuster movie who never dies, Jesus will always come with mighty acts of deliverance. He arose from his comfort and lambasted the chaos disturbing the disciples by giving strong orders to the wind and spoke to the sea peace. Notice that he didn’t rebuke the sea because there is nothing wrong with the sea, it’s just that its peace has been disturbed.

There is nothing wrong with you, it’s just that your peace has been disturbed. Thanks be to our God who always performs his mighty acts off deliverance on our behalf.

What is the chaos and storms of your life? Do you know that Christ has promised to transport you to the other side of your destiny? Do you know that he is there with you right in the thick of things? Have you tasted of his mighty works of deliverance? What about hanging in there a bit more?

Not dead but asleep

But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

Mar 5:37  And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.

Mar 5:38  They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

Mar 5:39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” Mark 5 :36-39

Is your situation dead and buried? Are you forgotten in the annals of history? The disciples thought so of Jairus as reports came that his daughter lie dead of sickness. It’s good that he cries to Jesus and not to the not condescending disciples.

We can learn some few things from this account.

-          What is dead to you is not so to Jesus. The disciples had given up on the man Jairius and his situation and even told him not to bother the master again. Its amazing how the disciples did not have any room for positivity in this situation. Is it possible that we follow Christ but we are full of negativity and unbelief? From the disciples’ attitude, it seems so.

          It is astonishing how the disciples dismissed the man Jairus …... Do not bother the master. Jesus intervenes and reassures the man. don’t be afraid …... yes, that word that is found at least 365 times in the bible (at least one for each day of the year.)

-          Jesus speaks to the dead situation. “Do not be afraid, just believe.” “The child is not dead but asleep.”

It’s an enormous statement! How can Jairus be still and refuse to be afraid of the death that had just visited his home?

-          Jesus is still in the business of waking people from their sleep.

The question is what is it that has made you asleep? A physical infirmity or deadness of spirit? Are you just destitute and hungry for hope and inspiration? He is here to wake you up from asleep.  May he wake you from sleep today.

Is there anyone left?

It can feel catastrophicly sad to feel left out, forgotten and destitute. We live in a selfish world where people look out only for their interests. Have you ever felt left out and forgotten only for someone out of sheer kindness looks out for you? “What about Kevin?” Its not fair to leave him out!

Well David the king in the Old Testament was wallowing in comfort and plenty in his castle then all of a sudden a gush of kindness burst forth!

2 Samuel 9:1” Is there anyone still left in the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathans sake?”

The initiative starts with David and there is absolutely no reason humanly speaking for him to do so. This was a king who subjected him to an amount of suffering.  He was Vilified by Saul but for what? being a fine young man who kept after God becoming his favorite? King Saul chased this man up to the caves but even as the most opportune time presented itself for David to have his revenge in the caves of Adullam, still he would not lay his hands on the lord’s anointed.

He asks “is there anyone still left in the house of Saul to whom I can show mercy?” Maybe you are there feeling left out, insignificant and an object of distant and fading memories. The stakes looked like so for Mephibosheth. But the king remembered him.

The king is a type of God himself who has promised to draw us to himself with his loving kindness. Jeremiah 31:3. We can rely on his unfailing love.

What is your servant that you should notice a dad dog like me?  2Sam 9:8

But we look down on ourselves, we get to pin ourselves down and the thumb of low self-esteem hovers over us. What matters is the kindness that the master has shown us.

Vs 13. Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, cause he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame at both table.

Despite being lame, we are always invited at the kings table. What is it that is our lameness? Is it sin? Is it shame?  Reproach of men? There is an invitation for us at the kings table set out right there in the midst of our enemies!

Someone estimated that the kings table as enough covering and is decorated well enough to cover our disability. He has covered us. The king has covered you. Don’t ever leave that table!