Mark 6:7-13 Jesus is the Lord of Preaching

The Text

Mark 6:7–13 (CSB)
⁷ He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits.

⁸ He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff—no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts,

⁹ but to wear sandals and not put on an extra shirt.

¹⁰ He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place.

¹¹ If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹² So they went out and preached that people should repent.

¹³ They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

The Devotion

Preaching Christ are not just empty words

Isaiah 55:10–11 (CSB)
¹⁰ For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

¹¹ so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”

Preaching Christ is our commandment by Christ

Mark 16:14–18 (CSB)
¹⁴ Later he appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he had risen.

¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

¹⁸ they will pick up snakes; if they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”

Preaching Christ so that others will believe

Romans 10:14-17 (CSB)
¹⁴ How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

¹⁶ But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?

¹⁷ So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Preaching Christ is the supernatural, other-worldly act that we somehow get to be with God and do his work

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 (CSB)
¹⁸ For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.

¹⁹ For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?

²¹ For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.

²² For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom,

²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

²⁴ Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,

²⁵ because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Preaching Christ is our ministry from Christ to Christ

Romans 15:14–21 (CSB)
¹⁴ My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

¹⁵ Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God

¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. God’s purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷ Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God.

¹⁸ For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles,

¹⁹ by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.

²⁰ My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation,

²¹ but, as it is written, Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.