We live in a day of gospel crisis. And the word crisis is not too strong a word.
It’s a day in which more people know gospel terminology than gospel meaning. Especially in the south part of the United States, the world is full of people who have grown up with gospel words, but have never been in contact with the true experience of those words.
It’s a day of much empty religion.
It’s a day of much religious deception.
It’s a day when a lot goes on in the name of the gospel that is actually in conflict with the biblical gospel
It’s a day in which there is a desperate need for gospel clarity.

What is the gospel? Who gave the gospel? Does the gospel really represent reality and does the world really need it? Do you really need the gospel?
Is religious self-help enough? This world is FULL of religious self-improvement.
Do people just need an encouraging word and a few principles for how to live or is there something more – something that address a DESPERATE PROBLEM IN MANKIND, and a desperate problem before God?

This morning we begin our study of Mark’s account of the gospel. The Spirit of God saw fit to give us four gospel accounts. They are accounts that agree with one another, but they are also accounts that also give us the same truth from different vantage points. Each of these accounts is the inerrant Word of God, yet each of these accounts has its own unique character and makes its own unique contribution.