“The good news is that the one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know him. But we sinned and cut ourselves off from him. In his great love, God became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law himself and taking on himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever turn and trust in him. He rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted. He now calls us to repent of our sins and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness. If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God. Now that’s good news.”

—Mark Dever

“Now after the death of these [Peter and Paul], Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself also transmitted to us in writing the things preached by Peter.”

—Irenaeus (ca. 140-203)

“The busy worker pictured in this Gospel was the mighty Servant of Jehovah who, as the Son of God, revealed His power over the visible and the invisible world. . . . Mark’s purpose was not merely to tell the story of a great religious teacher but to proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ as the saving event announced in the Hebrew prophets and expected in Judaism. His basic purpose was evangelistic, to win converts to the Christian faith.”

—D. Edmond Hiebert

“Evangelical preaching ought to reflect our conviction that God’s Word is infallible and inerrant. Too often it does not. In fact, there is a discernable trend in contemporary evangelicalism away from biblical preaching and drift toward an experience-centered, pragmatic, topical approach in the pulpit.” ---John MacArthur

“Who is this person, pierced through, for whom the people mourn? The most natural reading of the Hebrew is that it is Yahweh himself: ‘They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn’ (12:10). At one level the ‘piercing’ can be understood metaphorically … But there is a more literal fulfillment, a more literal piercing (John 19:34, 37).”

—D. A. Carson

"Life is unfair. But God is always good." - Tim Berrey

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”

—William Carey

“When Jesus died on the cross, he didn’t just save a bunch of individuals with no relation to each other; he died to save a people. … Jesus shed his blood so that we would become his blood-bought brothers and sisters, adopted as God’s children."- Aubrey Sequeira

“The Spirit’s intercession ensures that the prayers of believers, though weak and inarticulate, are always in harmony with God’s saving purposes.”

—Thomas Schreiner

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” —Matthew 6:33

“Jesus rules his church through his words and his ordinances. In baptism and the Lord’s Supper he marks off his people and continually calls them to repent and follow him.”

—Jonathan Leeman