THE GOSPEL DISCIPLES

Did you know the term "discipleship" is not found in the Bible? Yet, if you ask most churches what area they hope to grow in during 2025 many will say resoundingly discipleship.
  
In the Bible, we never see Jesus teach a seminar, conference, or hold a convention teaching churches how to disciple, yet everything He did in His earthly ministry was in fact discipling disciples. 

Jesus began his earthly ministry and immediately called men to follow Him and on the road of constant service. Jesus prepared and patterned His twelve on how to be full court, all in Christians.

THE GOSPEL OVER RULES

Legalism, legalistic, judgemental, and self-righteous are all words that make me feel nauseous. How about you? I grew up in a time in which in many circles that was the feeling about churches. Men began to take their eyes off the Bible and preach man-made ideas as if it was truth.  

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. In Mark 2 and 3 we see a verbal sparring over the Pharisees' view of religious regulations and Jesus's apparent superseding. The law is vital and powerful to reveal that all men can not ever be completely lawful and in its intended effect points us to the need of a Savior. Satan seeks to trap us at every turn. He will use doing good, ritualistic, dogmatic things to get our eyes off Jesus and on our own merit, causing us to be ineffective for the cause of the gospel on the ground.

THE GOSPEL UNIFIES

Families are knit to God’s heart. In fact, they were His design from the start. When God created man, He said, "It is not good for man to be alone," so He created woman (Genesis 2:18). Then, He blessed them and told them, "Be fruitful, and multiply" (Genesis 1:28).

In Mark 3:20-35 the scene opens with much familial disruption. Even close relatives and religious insiders were nonplussed by what Jesus preached, because it threatened to hamper so many aspects of typical society. They accused Him of being insane and even demon-filled. Jesus goes on to teach that what makes a family is the dynamic unifier of the gospel on the ground.

THE GOSPEL MOVES

Have you ever used phrases like "you are asking for trouble," "playing with fire," "rocking the boat?" I wonder if the disciples ever felt like that as they followed Jesus into difficulty. At the end of Mark 4, Jesus whisks the disciples away from the multitude and takes them directly into the mess. In chapter 5 they go from that mess, to a maniac (demoniac) named legion.
 
The Gospel on the Ground is a gospel that seeks opportunities wherever it will be needed.  Remember Jesus said in Mark 2:17, "those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."  Are we passionate about finding a place for the gospel? Passionate enough to rock the boat, to find a mess, to get uncomfortable for the cause?

THE GOSPEL DESPERATION

What is desperation? Can you think of a time when you felt you were without any answer and just desperate? One definition stated it is the feeling that you have when your situation is so bad that you would do anything to change it.

In Mark 5, we meet with two completely different people who have situations of desperation. Jarius is losing his little girl at the brink of death and there is an unnamed woman with a long term disease, both making a last ditch effort to get to Jesus. How desperate are we to get to Jesus? To get others to Jesus? The gospel on the ground is an anthem of desperation to encounter Jesus. Are you desperate?