Mark 1:14-15--Jesus Begins His Ministry

Mark 1:14-15
English Standard Version
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Jesus Begins His Ministry14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

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An argument can be made for or against the way the ESV titled this section, but I'll go with it because it is the next mile marker in Peters short version of sharing the gospel and it encapsulates the idea of everything that Jesus did at the beginning of His ministry as well.

For certain, some time passed between the baptism of Jesus and the arrest of John the Baptist.  We are not told exactly when John was arrested, but only told in Matthew that Jesus heard about John being arrested and then took the opportunity to tell everyone that John was the harbinger and that He was the Messiah.  It is with this public declaration of telling everyone clearly who He is and associating Himself with John's message of baptism and repentance that some scholars argue is the official beginning of Jesus' ministry (after the harbinger or forerunner has had time to prepare the way).  Others argue that there is a bit of overlap between the beginning of Jesus' ministry (probably marked by the calling of His disciples and maybe His first miracle at the wedding in Cana).  In either case, this person telling the story didn't consider all those details pertinent.  What is important to the story here is that John is arrested and is "off stage" in prison (awaiting execution) and Jesus now comes on stage and we hear John the Baptist's words coming out of Jesus' mouth.  It couldn't be more clear to the Jews and the Romans that thought they just got rid of the trouble John was creating by arresting him that Jesus is going to pick up right where John left off.  "The time is fulfilled" (telling people that John was preparing the way for Him and He is here).  "The kingdom of God is at hand," meaning that the Son of God who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is standing there in their midst.  They no longer have to wait for it.  Finally Jesus gives them a call to action, "Repent and believe the gospel."  That's as simple as our call to action needs to be today too.  The message hasn't changed ever since Jesus preached this message:
1) Repent--Turn away from sin
2) Believe--The Jesus is the Son of God (God in the flesh, fully God and fully Man) and that He lived a perfect, sinless life in order to die the death you deserved so that he may take your death upon Himself and you might receive the eternal life that belongs only to Him.  Believe that He was raised on the third day to prove He was not guilty and show that He had conquered sin and death and that we too will be raised one day, and He currently is at the right hand of the Father awaiting His return for those who believe in Him and to be the Judge of the living and the dead who did not believe in Him.
3) Receive--Receive the Holy Spirit (not talked about here, but talked about at the end of the gospel of John and in the book of Acts).  God the Holy Spirit will live within you to change you from the inside out and make you more like Jesus.  The Holy Spirit will help you understand the Bible (for He is the Author), will help you to pray, worship, and obey all that Jesus commanded us.  He brings things to our memory that God said and did and He gives us just the right words when we need them.  We do well to let the Holy Spirit be in control at all times, for when we try to be in control, that's when we make a mess of things.