Come With Me

The Gospel challenge:

1. Study on your time 2 chapters of Mark a week. Why only 2 chapters a week? It gives time to digest the words of the text.

2. Include someone else. Family, children, a buddy.

3. Each week, I will preach a sermon from a portion of the upcoming Bible reading.

(8 week journey through Mark starts June 7)

(Journey of man wrote it)

• Mother was
• Cousin was
• He got scared on mission trip and went home. Acts 15:36-40
• He disappeared for Colossians 4:10 , 2 Timothy 4:11
• Where was he for those ten years? .

1 Peter 5:13 = Notice the deep relationship between Mark and Peter? Peter calls him “my son.” His spiritual son. Paul’s spiritual son was Timothy. Peter’s spiritual son was John Mark.

The Mark would listen to Peter’s sermons, take solid notes, organize the accounts to ultimately become the Gospel of Mark.

Early Church father Papias wrote (95-140) that Marks content came from Peters sermons. “Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a regular narrative of the Lord’s sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements.”

Eusebius (263-339) suggested Mark wrote Gospel at request Peters hearers. “A great light of religion shone on the minds of the hearers of Peter, so that they were not satisfied with a single hearing or with the unwritten teaching of the divine proclamation, but with every kind of exhortation [they] entreated Mark, whose gospel is still in existence, seeing that he was Peter’s follower, to leave them a written statement of the teaching given them verbally, nor did they cease until they had persuaded him, and so became the cause of the scripture called the Gospel according to Mark. And they say that the Apostle, knowing by the revelation of the Spirit to him what had been done, was pleased at their zeal, and ratified the scripture for study in the churches. (Church History, 2.15.1–2)

Mark was written for the Gentile believers of Rome. Mark’s audience was non-Jewish:

–Translates Aramaic terms

–Explains Jewish custom

–Skips things interest Jews, like Jesus genealogy)

–Calculates time by Roman system.

–He gives us the name Simon of Cyrene as the man who carried Jesus cross. Simon was a member of the church in Rome. (Rom. 6:13)

Three Encouragements: As You Come with Me On This Journey:

1.

Think how he felt after going home, then Paul said: Not going. Embarrassed. Humiliated. Why did God send Mark to Peter? Because Peter understood what it was like to fail. To mess up.

I want our church to be the Apostle Peter in your life. To come along side you after mistakes and encourage you to get up.

2.

Mark grew up in a household of faith. But his faith needed to mature. What he got from the Apostle Peter was a deepening of his doctrine and a more mature understanding of the Gospel.

3. And keeps oneself in the shadows.

Mark wrote a very famous book, but did not write his name on it. Because the Gospel was not about him, it is about Jesus.

(Side note: Mark might be the young man referred to in Mark 14:51-52)

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