What The Bible Is All About: “The Gospels”

What The Bible Is All About

“The Gospels”

12/8/24

Pastor Mark England

The Bible is .

Matthew 4:4 (CSB) He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Psalm 119:105 (CSB) Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.

Romans 10:17 (CSB) So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

The Bible can be .

Adult Bible Users 2011-2024

Why don’t people read the Bible?

• They don’t know where to .
• Have difficulty to it.
• The is confusing.
• They don’t know how to the stories.

The Bible should not be daunting or … but life- and .

The Gospels

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

What is the Gospel?

Euangelion “”

The Gospel is the of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, offering salvation and reconciliation with God to all who believe.

Why are there Gospels?

(4 witnesses provide fuller picture of Jesus)

Why are there in the accounts of the Gospels?

“If four witnesses should appear before a judge to give an account of a certain event, and each should tell exactly the same story in the same words, the judge would probably conclude, not that their testimony was exceptionally valuable, but that the only event which was certain beyond a doubt was that they had agreed to tell the same story. But if each man had told what he had seen, as he had seen it, then the evidence would be credible. And when we read the four Gospels, is not that exactly what we find is the four men tell the same story each in his own way.”

Dr. Henry Van Dyke

The Gospels have differences but .

What does each of the Gospels tell us about Jesus?

There Are Four Gospels Painting The of Jesus.

The Book of

In Matthew we see Jesus as “”.

Author – , the tax collector.

Audience – The .

Purpose – Written to convince the that Christ was the long-awaited Messiah.

Opens with royal genealogy.

Reveals Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

There are over 300 Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament.

The probability of fulfilling just 8 of these is 1 in 10¹⁷

Message- Jesus came to restore rule on earth.

The Book of

In Mark we see Jesus as “”

Author- , a first-generation Christian

Disciple of , and companion of .

Audience- The , all action, no genealogy.

Purpose- Written to show that Jesus is one “.”

Message- Mark 10:45 (NIV) “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

The Book of

In Luke we see Jesus as “”

Author- , the doctor.

Only author who was not Jewish, but .

Audience- The

Purpose- Written to show the of Jesus.

(Prodigal Son, The Good Samaritan, Thief on the Cross)

Genealogy goes backward from Mary to Adam showing how connected to humanity Jesus is.

Message- Jesus came to a broken world.

The Book of

In John we see Jesus as “”

Author- , the beloved.

Audience- who would believe.

Purpose- Written to show the of Jesus.

Genealogy starts with Jesus being here from the because He is God.

Message- John 20:31 (NIV) “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.”

Luke 8:4-8 (CSB) As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable, ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. ⁶ Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Luke 8:11-15 (CSB) “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹² The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. ¹⁴ As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. ¹⁵ But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

Are the Gospels producing fruit in ?

The best way to give someone hope, isn’t by speaking a sermon… but by a sermon and letting them see the who lives in you.