John Mark

And then in verse number 24, you got a fellow by the name of Marcus.

That's none less than John Mark.

You remember John Mark who went on a missionary trip? He was all excited about the adventure of it, and he got out there and decided it was better back home at Mama's house than it was on the missionary journey.

And he goes home, but praise God, God gave him a second chance.

Are you glad God gives second chances? And at the end of Paul's life, interestingly enough, you remember this when we come to this word in a moment, the Apostle Paul wrote and said, Bring him with thee, for he's profitable to me for the ministry.

God used a demonstration to show Peter what he had done.

And then there's John Mark.

Remember I told you he's not as famous as the others, but he was the friend of Paul's, and he turned his back on him.

If God had used the same method on John Mark that he used on David or these others, he would have blown him out of the saddle.

He would have never recovered.

But you know what God did? He brought along a guy by the name of Barnabas, and Barnabas said to John Mark, "Come on, man.

You're going with me.

We're gonna get you back on the right path." And sometimes people are so overwhelmed by failure that they need someone to believe in them again, and Barnabas did that.

And the man who failed so publicly became the preacher of Pentecost.

And then there's John Mark, not so well known as the others, but he abandoned Paul on a mission field, later became useful for ministry.

Failure did not have the final word in his life.

Here is the great lesson.

[laughs] The Bible says he went out and wept bitterly.

God used a demonstration to show Peter what he had done.

And then there's John Mark.

Remember I told you he's not as famous as the others, but he was the friend of Paul's, and he turned his back on him.

So why is it that we believe? Why is Mark's name appended to this, and has Mark's name always been appended to this particular gospel? Well, in actual fact, the answer to that is, is largely yes.

The earliest documents of the church identify John Mark as the writer of this particular gospel.

Every gospel, as we said, is based on eyewitness material, and the early writers and the church fathers identify Peter, the apostle Peter, as the source for Mark's gospel.

So that Mark has relied most heavily on Peter to provide him with the eyewitness details that have enabled Mark to write this gospel down for the church in his day.

And their dear bishop writes to them and says, "When you read the stuff that Mark wrote down for you, you can be sure that although it's not written chronologically, it's all put down there.

There's nothing left out that should be in, and there's nothing in that should be out.

Indeed, you can trust it in its entirety." And it has been written by this fellow called John Mark.

In fact, Mark, if you like, is just what any intelligent Christian should want the earliest evangelists to have been.