This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

I'm Nick, particularly welcome if you're joining us online. You're very welcome this evening and welcome if it's the first time you've been with us. I'd like to extend my welcome that Stephen Ben did. You're really welcome. Part of the family this evening.

This evening might look and feel a bit different if you're regular to this service tonight. As Ben has explained, we start in our next week journey through the Christianity Explored series. There are going to be different ways for you to get involved, to ask questions, to be part of the series over the next few weeks, which you can gladly do, or if you just want to sit and listen and take it all in, that's absolutely fine as well. Christianity explored as an organisation has one aim, to introduce people to Jesus Christ. It takes us through Mark's gospel, answering questions like who is he?

Why did he come, why did he die, why did he raise again? And what is grace? All questions that are fundamentals to understanding what it means to be a follower of the Lord and all questions that we're going to try and unpack over the next six weeks. I wanted to start this evening by telling you part of my story as to how I became a Christian and how Christianity explored was absolutely fundamental in that. Apologies if you've heard me talk about this before, but I believe passionately that having the good news laid out to us, either to those who are not yet followers, those who are asking questions, or those that have been christians for many years, is vitally important and is always reaffirming.

Christianity explored will help us do this and you will see that it was fundamental in my journey to faith. If you've not heard the good news before, it being clearly laid out is crucial. But conversely, if we've been convicted for many years, having a clear understanding of it is also really important so that we can disciple others. Both of these aspects are key parts to my journey. I hadn't heard the good news and I had lots of people disciple it to me.

I grew up in Crawley in a catholic household. I went to a catholic school and we went to church when my mum told us we had to. But otherwise we drifted through life and I drifted through life without faith really entering my thought process. This changed about twelve years ago, coincided with Harry, our eldest son, being born. Me and Janine, we decided that the right thing to do was to take him to church because that would ensure that he'd grow up as an outstanding, upstanding member of society.

Right. We went along to our local catholic church because that's what I grew up with. We took him to Sunday school. This went on and we went on and off. And Oliver was born ten years ago and at this point we were living in Crober and we were going to work, going to church.

Semiregularly particularly. I worked every weekend. I'd go if I wasn't at work. However, one Sunday, this all changed. I was at work.

Janine was dealing with our two young boys who were shouting at the back of church, as they do. They still do that now. And she decided that the best thing to do would be to take them for a walk to calm down. Now, if you know Krover at all, the catholic church is on one side of the green and the c of E church another. All Saints, is on the other side of the green.

So she went out and she was walking across this green and she, for whatever reason, I now say God called her, but at the time she didn't think that. She ended up walking into the back of All Saints church in Krober. I got home from work to. I went to the CV church this morning. They were amazing.

They gave me lunch. I was like, all right. And I moved on. I moved on with the rest of the day. Over the next few weeks, Janine went to toddler group, she went to Sunday services.

And eventually I got that, you're going to come with me. So I went along and I was really unsure. It was completely different from what I'd grown up with. It was not like a catholic service at all. There didn't seem to be any structure, or at least not structure that I recognised.

But I do remember that first service, the preach was on what it looks like to be a Christian. That stuck with me. Janine then had another announcement. She was going out on a Tuesday night and I was going to be babysitting or parenting again. I was like, okay.

But also thinking, has she lost her marbles? She's going on a course at church. I'd grown up never talking or asking questions about faith and she was going on a course. She came back bubbling. She came back so excited.

She was excited about the good news. She was hearing for the first time. The inevitable then happens. She finishes the course. About two months later, the opportunity comes.

The course is running again. Nick, would you like to do the course? I was like, oh, don't know. I thought, well, she's done. I better go and find out what it's all about.

So reluctantly, I went along and I joined the Christianity explored course. But I went thinking I'm not sure this is for me. I'm not sure I'm interested, but let's see how it goes. My eyes were opened. People were prepared to spend time answering my questions, listening to my objections and genuinely loving me.

They didn't know me. They were prepared to do all of this. Christianity explored was the first time in my life, in or out of church, where someone had explained what the good news of Jesus Christ is. It's the first time that someone had broken it down simply and clearly. It was the first time that I'd had any conviction that I knew what being a Christian was and that I wanted to get more involved.

So eleven years ago, if you'd said to me that I'd be stood here this evening talking to you about it and how great our Lord is, I would never have believed you. The Lord works in all of us. Without Christianity explored, without the Bible and without Mark's gospel, and without the many, many people who spent time with me, I would still be lost. The next six weeks will change your life. They will reaffirm your faith.

They will challenge us, challenge us to spread our faith to others through reading the Bible, spending time with each other, showing love to each other. Christianity explored, changed my life. I'm going to pause there because it's time to open the Bible. We've all been hopefully given one of these on the way in. Bella's going to come and read from it to us for help.

It's on page 17. Mark, chapter one, verses one to 15. The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet. I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way, a voice of one calling in the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord and make straight paths for him.

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him confessing their sins. They were baptised by him in the river Jordan. John wore clothing made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message.

After me comes one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit. At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, you are my son, whom I love with you.

I am well pleased. At once. The spirit sent him out into the wilderness and in lonely places. Yet the people, sorry. And he was in the wilderness for 40 days.

Being tempted by Satan, he was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Thank you, Bella.

So tonight we're going to start with our first statement, good news. Good news sounds like a newspaper headline, doesn't it? So we all have good news in our lives. Whether it's England winning a rugby match, whether it's passing our driving test, whether it's got that promotion that you've wanted at work. Good news is often something we all want.

It's something that can often seem elusive, particularly when we're going through a tough time. Good news also fades away. So another rugby match happens. England may win, they may lose. The driving test.

Success is a distant memory because you just get on with driving. The promotion is easily forgotten because you start looking at what's the next rung on the ladder. The good news of the Bible, however, it never goes away. It never withers, and it's always constant. It's alongside us.

No matter what the situation we find ourselves in or how hard life gets, the good news of Jesus Christ is always there. Our passage this evening began with the opening sentence, the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah. The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah. A few years back, I was hooked on a BBC tv show called Sherlock. I'm sure many of you saw it.

As the title suggests, it was about Sherlock Holmes. And each episode, you spent the whole episode trying to work out who killed who and how they did it, and invariably got to the end and had no idea at all and got it wrong. In our passage this evening, Mark does the absolute opposite of this. It's that spoiler moment. He gives the ending away in the first line, the good news about Jesus the Messiah.

The good news for the whole of humanity is Jesus the Messiah. Messiah means the anointed one or chosen one. The good news about Jesus the chosen one. He is the chosen one to save us.

His coming is the great news we all need. Why? Because without Jesus coming, he could not ultimately give his life for us to take punishment. For our sins, he freely takes our place on the cross, something that can only ever be great news for all of us. By Mark setting up his stall with the opening, the beginning of the good news about Jesus the messiah, he tells us a really important truth about the good news.

He tells us Christianity, as Ben said, is about Jesus. Now, that might sound a silly thing to say, and it might sound like a Sunday school answer, but the statement is really liberating, really liberating, because it means it's not about coming to church, it's not about obeying rules, it's not about getting baptised, although these are all good things, and they're all things that we should think about doing. It's not about this wonderful building, it's not about that stained glass window, it's not about how great that organ sounds. It's not about the wonderful flowers. We should be thankful for all these things, but they are amazing, but they are not the centre of it.

Jesus is the most important part of the good news. Here's the good news. So Mark puts in front and centre. Mark does not want the rest of his book or the readers to be unclear that the rest of his book is about. Its purpose is to show really clearly who Jesus is and why he has come.

Now, a question I had when hearing this for the first time was, how do we trust this? How do we trust this? It sounds good, but how do we trust it? Well, we can trust it because, as Mark shows us, the coming of Jesus was foretold. Foretold that a saviour would come and bring us all to safety.

He would save us from our sins and make us right with our Father in heaven. We see that over 300 prophecies from the Old Testament about Jesus are fulfilled by his coming. So Mark wants us to be really clear and the reader be really clear with telling us truths that are scripture based, that they would understand and that are in history. So he points us to Isaiah. Isaiah being an Old Testament prophet, a prophet being someone that foretold events that were to come, who was alive 700 years before Jesus was born.

And Isaiah says, as we see in our passage, I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way. A voice of one calling in the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight paths for him. He wants to show that this prophecy is true and that the events were predicted and have come to pass.

How amazing that someone 700 years before Jesus was telling of his coming. And it comes to pass. It comes true. We see John the Baptist come and preach to the people in the wilderness. He was preaching about repentance and forgiveness of sins.

He was preparing the way for the good news of Christ. He was fulfilling the prophecy. He was speaking of the coming of Jesus in verse seven. After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

John knew who was coming and what great news it would be for all if we read on. Jesus then comes and fulfils what John has told the crowds as he is baptised in the water. The heavens open and the spirit descends like a dove, unmistakably identifying him as the son of God. And if we needed any more proof, the heavens open and God says, you are my son, whom I love with you. I am well pleased.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I'd been there, this must have been really scary and amazing all at the same time. A massive voice coming from the heavens declaring that Jesus is his son.

Why is this important? Why is this such great news? It's important because Mark has said the beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God. In these first ten verses, we are told who Jesus is, confirmed his coming was foretold, and had God speak how he is his son and that he is well pleased with him. It's great news because it confirms Jesus, our saviour, came and with the Lord's blessings, saved us from our sins.

Mark spends the next 16 chapters unpacking even more about Jesus and who he was, why he came and what that means to us. So for me, hearing this eleven years ago, I was stunned. I had loads of questions, don't get me wrong, but I was shocked that we could see so much in such few verses and that it could not be clearer that what, or more to the point, who the good news is. I wanted to know more. I wanted to ask more.

I was hooked. It showed me, though, that to get closer to Jesus, to build my relationship with Christ, one of the central things I had to do was read the Bible. The Bible has the answers. It might seem intimidating if you've not picked it up before, you might not know where to start. Or perhaps we've just got out the habit of reading it.

As Ben said, why not start with us over the next 20 days or six weeks or two days, however it long takes you to read it. To read this, start here, start with Mark's gospel. The answers are there, the good news is here. If you have questions tonight, please don't leave without speaking to someone. Come and talk to me.

Come talk to Ben, come talk to Steve if you don't want to talk to us. I think the plan is that there's a box at the back of church with some bits of paper. Please write a question down on it, pop it in the box. There'll be opportunities for us to come back to it later in the series. I'd like to finish by posing a question.

I'd like to give you something to think about over the next seven days. That will get us thinking about the good news a bit further. I'd like to think about the question, who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? To me?

Chris next week is going to help us unpack and hopefully answer some of those questions. Let me pray as I finish.

Heavenly Father, thank you that you sent Jesus to be our great news, our great saviour. Thank you for the Bible and particularly Mark's gospel. Thank you for Christianity explored and the work it does unpacking the great news for so many people. Be with us as we guard different ways this evening. Help us to put you at the centre of our week.

Be with us as we have questions about you and provide the right people around us to love us and disciple us. We offer this prayer to you, Lord. Amen.