The Book of Mark

We began our new series on Sunday entitled, Living Authentic Discipleship. Over the next five months we will journey through the book of Mark.

Though the author of the book of Mark is anonymous, it is assumed that it was written by John Mark, an apostle of Peter, around the early to mid 60's for Christians in and near Rome. At the time is was ascribed, Rome was ruled by Emperor Nero. Nero was known for his severe persecution of Christians after the fire that ravaged Rome in 64 A.D. It is believed that Mark escaped from Rome with written stories of Jesus' life, and with his knowledge of the culture, compiled the stories partly to simply preserve them.

After reading the entire first chapter we focused on Mark 1:14-22. Jesus calls to Simon and Andrew who are in their boat casting nets. He calls to them, "'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him." His request is significant because he appealed to their trade and said they would go after a much bigger, more important catch. In Mark 1:19-20, Jesus calls out to James and John who choose to leave their father with hired servants to run the family business and follow him. Sometimes to be an authentic disciple we may have to leave everything we think is important behind.

As we continue through this study, remember the five points of Authentic Discipleship...Put Jesus First, Follow His Teachings, Be Fruitful, Love Other Disciples, and Make Disciples of Others.

The ultimate goal of living as an authentic disciple is to become like Christ in every area of life.