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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Talking Points 3rd Quarter 2024: The Book of Mark

Kameron DeVasher

Mark Howard

01 The Beginning of the Gospel

02 A Day in the Ministry of Jesus

03 Controversies

04 Parables

05 Miracles Around the Lake

06 Inside Out

07 Teaching Disciples Part 1

08 Teaching Disciples Part 2

09 Jerusalem Controversies

10 The Last Days

11 Taken and Tried

12 Tried and Crucified

13 The Risen Lord

I'm Cameron DeVasier and I'm Mark Howard and this is Talking Points.

We are now embarking on an entirely new study series all about the book of Mark.

I bet you I bet you're really gonna look at this lesson every week like oh what a good choice.

Now the book of Mark of course is the Gospel of Mark 1 of the 4 Gospels.

That's good, it wasn't just some cousin somewhere, it was this Mark.

All right, well obviously there's the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Mark is 1 of those 4 Gospels that covers the life of Jesus.

It's not about Mark of course, it's about Jesus and you actually put our talking points together this week, but I'm excited about the overall topic of just studying the life of Christ and looking at some of the details that we might refer to in other topical studies, but now we're gonna walk through the ministry of Jesus, and I'm already excited about what we're gonna learn.

Absolutely, it's gonna be a good quarter.

I should highlight, as we do each time we start a new lesson series, there are a number of programs that go over the quarterly Sabbath school lesson or the adult Bible study guide lesson.

Talking points is not just us going over the lesson, and it may appear that to some people, but the reason that we started talking points and continue to do talking points is that this is intended to be a training resource primarily for teachers or anybody in the class.

It's not like teacher exclusive, but the idea is we're trying to take a comprehensive lesson and draw out points that can be addressed in a Sabbath school time in a timely manner.

When I teach a sabbath school class, I don't teach it like I do talking points because we do all the talking.

You know, I'll ask questions, I'll engage in but when I when you do that as a teacher and you who've done teaching know this that the more you try to engage the class, well, there's a balance between trying to cover the material and get interaction.

And so, the benefit of having some key talking points is, when your points are clear in your head that you want to cover, It helps you to maintain that balance a little bit better and have the interaction in your class and yet still cover the substantial material.

Plus, I think it's really helpful to remember that the goal of the Sabbath school class is not to cover, quote, the lesson.

The goal of the lesson is to draw you to the scripture and the class is aided by that lesson, no doubt.

But it's the scripture and drawing out the truths from the Bible.

So don't feel this guilt as a teacher, like, man, I got to get through Sunday and then I got to get through Monday.

Now it's the time to really put flesh on these bones and make a really dynamic, engaging Bible study experience for everyone.

I'm glad you said that because I'm kind of skipping over Tuesday for that reason.

I just didn't have time to cover everything.

So this is what we're going to do this week.

I've got 3 talking points and they are as follows.

Well, I tell you what, before you tell our talking points, we should start with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this new day.

Thank you for the opportunity you give us to know you and to study your word and to, in a group setting, like the Sabbath school class, iron, sharpen iron, as we look closer and closer at the words of Christ, and by your spirit become more like him.

Please bless our time in this preparation resource now as we discuss this lesson and the things we can draw out of it, for we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, now our lesson this week is entitled The Beginning of the Gospel, a little play on words.

It's the beginning of the gospel of Mark, the book.

It's also the beginning of the gospel message as proclaimed by Christ.

And again, I've drawn 3 talking points out.

Talking point number 1 is Mark the author is a product of the gospel.

And I've taken that primarily from Sabbath, Sunday, and Monday's lessons.

And then talking point number 2 is the essence of Mark's gospel is the divine human Christ.

And I could have said the essence of the gospel is Christ, which would be true, but Mark actually draws out both the divine and the human aspects right there in the first chapter.

We're gonna see that and the lesson highlights that as well.

And then finally, talking point number 3, the gospel message was and is built on prophecy.

And I'm taking that from Thursday and Friday's lessons.

Already we can tell there's a lot to cover, so let's go back to talking point number 1.

Mark the author is a product of the gospel.

Okay, well let's start in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 12 verse 12, and This is the first record we have of, well, it may not be the first, we'll get to that in just a minute.

Well, it's the first explicit perhaps reference.

Yeah, it says, so when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.

Okay, so the gospel author's name is actually John Mark.

The lesson highlights that John was probably Hebrew, how he was called in the Hebrew society, and Mark was Greek.

So it was a surname, and this is the first place we find him in this house of Mary.

So when Peter, when Peter gets out of prison and he comes to the house of Mary and you remember the story wrote, he answers the door and she's so excited she goes and tells everybody, forgets to let Peter in the house and all this business.

But the implication is that this was Mary's house.

The fact that she had a house speaks to the idea that she was probably more affluent and this plays into the story what we're getting here in in this first part is the backstory of the author.

Well and clearly he doesn't he doesn't just happen to be there it's Mary the mother of John Mark so the implication is he's not only familiar with you but likely lives there right?

That's right And if she is a little more fluent, so is he and again, you'll see how that plays in in a minute now As we go on to Acts chapter 13 If you would read verses 1 through 5 Sure now in the church that was at Antioch.

There were certain prophets and teachers Barnabas Simeon called Niger Lucius of serene Manan who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.

As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them they sent them away.

So being sent out by the Holy Spirit they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

And when they arrived in Selemus they preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, they also had John as their assistant." So here it doesn't call him by Mark or John Mark, it calls him John.

We go ahead to verse 13 of that same chapter, it says, Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga and Pamphylia, and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.

Now it does not tell us here why he departed, but evidently it wasn't on the best terms because when we come to Acts chapter 15, it gives us a little more detail in verses 36 to 39.

Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they were doing.

Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark, but Paul insisted that they should not take with them the 1 who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from 1 another.

And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus.

But Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.

And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Okay, so now here you're picking up on the story that we see in Acts 13 and here it's very clearly spelled out that this is John they took with him, it was John Mark, and that Paul didn't want him to take because he had departed from them.

Well, and notice it didn't say had not gone with them to a destination.

So like the thing he was trying to get out wasn't the traveling, it was the working.

It was the something about the labor was so the idea we get here is that you know Mark comes from this affluent home and Christianity, especially in those days, was not attended with some of the more conveniences and comforts.

I mean, it's, at least in westernized culture, as much as we can say there is Negation of Christians a persecution of Christians.

It's not equaling New Testament Church Well, especially for the Apostle Paul who was not he was a divisive figure, you know Yeah, all kinds of ways and remember he was the 1 who always had made the case, hey, shouldn't I at least get paid from the gospel?

Like, he clearly, besides the shipwrecks and beatings, wasn't even being supported in the work like you would think of a minister nowadays.

Series

Talking Points 3rd Quarter 2024: The Book of Mark

01 The Beginning of the Gospel

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Talking Points 4th Quarter 2025: Lessons of Faith from Joshua

03 Memorials of Grace

30m

Talking Points 3rd Quarter 2024: The Book of Mark

13 The Risen Lord

29m

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter: The Book of Mark

09 Jerusalem Controversies

19m

Talking Points 1st Quarter 2023: Managing for the Master Until He Comes

02 God’s Covenants With Us

30m

Romans

Romans- Part 1

1h 14m

Talking Points 3rd Quarter 2022: In the Crucible with Christ

08 Seeing the Invisible

29m

Talking Points 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

12 Earth’s Closing Events

28m

Talking Points 2nd Quarter 2022 Genesis: The Creation

03 Cain and His Legacy

30m

Advent HOPE - Adventist History Class

Current Events in Adventism

41m

Pioneers and the Trinity

Pioneers and the Trinity- Part 3

1h 9m

Adult Sabbath School: You're Teaching More than a Lesson

Adult Sabbath School: You’re Teaching More than a Lesson - Part 2

1h 1m

Beyond the Tithe: Practical Lessons on Personal Finance

6. Lay Up Your Treasures: Earning Interest in the Bank of Heaven

1h 10m

Sound Doctrine