Bible Verses for Sunday Service September 18, 2022
1 Peter 5:7
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Isaiah 41:10
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Announcements:
Awana began this last Wednesday night with around 40 children coming out. We look forward to another year of ministry to those children and their families. Steve thanked the leaders and helpers, which includes himself. All of the leaders and helpers appreciate your prayers. Also, if anyone one would like to provide cookies from time to time, we would appreciate cookies, home made versus Walmart preferred.
The ladies will begin their Bible Study Tuesday, September 20. They will meet at the Church at 10AM each Tuesday. The study will be based on the movie Overcomer. Besides having a great time, you will gain more insights and understanding of your Bible. In addition, you will enjoy the good fellowship with other Christian Ladies.
A deacons meeting was announced on September 29th at 7PM to review the financial report and to discuss the upcoming visit of our missionary speaker.
We will hosting a special missionary speaker on October 16, 2022. Dr. Alvin Low, director of Acts International. He will be with us to speak during the Sunday School hour, the morning service and a service right after lunch. He will speak on world missions. Please do all you can to be there and hear him speak at each service.
Lastly, Steve gave us an update on the garage – we are still waiting on materials, but the plan is to get at the construction of the building this fall. We will need help, please consider contributing your time.
Sermon:
Continuing in Acts, Pastor spoke to us on “The Marks of Mark’s Life” using as his text various passages in Acts, and other books to cover the life of John Mark, Mark, the author the eponymous Gospel. Pastor chose to use the play on words to illustrate the life of Mark as he certainly some marks on his life. For bad, he had being accused and branded as deserter by Paul. But, also for good he had being the author of the first written Gospel, Mark.
From his time in seminary, Pastor shared a personal example of marks that one might carry through life. He related how he was afraid of preaching in front of 1000 seminary students. So he declined an offer to do so as part of a homiletic’s class. He heard later that the professor believed he would never amount to much, certainly not a pastor. Just as Pastor proved the prediction false, so did Mark get past it in his life.
Pastor expounded on his analysis that Mark’s life had a significant start. Evidence from the bible shows his mother was women of means, with a very large house, and his cousin Barnabas also had great wealth. But, these didn’t help him as much as the great start he got from the home being continually filled with Godly people. Perhaps the early church met in that home. All these people, their influence gave him the good start, provided the foundation for him to go into ministry.
Not only did the home provide the good base, it also provided the opportunity for ministry in that options, plans, strategy and tactics were discussed in his home. He therefore had the opportunity to hear of and participate in significant history of the early church, like the first missions to the Gentiles. He heard of this through his cousin Barnabas as he and Paul firstly went to visit the early Christians in Antioch. He had the opportunity to help with logistics, supporting Paul and Barnabas.
But, in the second part of his sermon Pastor explores the second mark of Mark’s life, the one we tend to remember, his damaging decision to quit the mission field in the middle of the mission. Pastor first speculated on what might have caused Mark to return home. Was being homesick so far from Jerusalem, probably 40o miles? Wast it the ominous terrain, full of steep mountains possibly holding bandits? We don’t know the reasons for his decision.
We only know the results of his decision. He went home. In Paul’s mind, he believed that Mark deserted. This decision then really “marked” Mark in Paul’s eyes, he was a failure, and not to be trusted. From now on in Acts, the story follows Paul and Silas, so Luke went with them and chronicled their story. Now Barnabas and Mark also went back into the mission field, but we don’t know what happened to them after the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas over how to handle Mark’s previous failure. Obviously, Paul was not going to offer a second chance. Yet Barnabas thought he should have one.
Mark’s life however, was eventually marked by a different description. If you skip forward 20 years, from these early chapters in Acts, 12 and 13 and move to 2 Timothy 4:11 where you see Paul in prison in Rome, asking for Mark to be his companion. So anything related to that earlier mistrust is now erased in Paul. Why might that be? Pastor preached that surely it is in part due to a cousin’s Barnabas’ commitment. He is the one that extended the second chance and helped him. But of course the real author of this reconciliation is the Lord. He is the one that extends grace that passes through us if we let it to others.
In closing, Pastor admonished us to think on this sermon in terms of us maybe “marking” someone in such a a way to write them off, and not to do it. Instead, if someone has disappointed us in a bad decision, would we instead give them a second chance through the grace that we received? In this way, one bad decision does not “mark” them for life. And, if we have been so marked by others and recovered, let us thank the Lord the one who extends all grace. Let us forgive little as we have been forgiven much by Him.
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