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| The Bible consists of 66 books written by some 40 men over a period of 1,600 years. It was written to teach us the salvation of sinful man by our loving God. Both the Old Testatment and the New Testament show us man's need of a Saviour and God's provision of a Saviour in Jesus. The Old Testament contains many prophecies about Jesus. The New Testament tells us how the Saviour came and how we can be saved by Him. The theme of the whole Bible - salvation for mankind - centers around Jesus, the Saviour of mankind. Jesus began His ministry at about 30 years of age for about three and a half years until His death. Many have received the Pentecostal Experience - Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which brings new life and power to many churches. This is called The Charismatic Renewal. Charisma means gift. The Holy Spirit comes as a gift and brings with Him many gifts of the spiritual power. Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John These first four books of the New Testament are called Gospels. Gospel means good news. The good news about how Jesus came to give us eternal life is the best news there is! God inspired Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to write about the good news from different viewpoints. Matthew shows us Jesus as King - the descendant of Kind David who would rule the world in righteousness. Mark shows us Jesus, the Servant of God, doing God's will - the suffering Servant described in the Old Testament prophecy, who came to die for our sins. Luke, a Greek physician, presents Jesus as the son of man - the perfect representative of the human race and the remedy for all the ills of all mankind. John writes his gospel to let us see Jesus as the Son of God - the Saviour of the world. His book is a record of the life of a man he knows. He is closely associated with Jesus. John writes as a witness to prove something - to prove who Jesus is. His aim is to convince all who read his record that this man Jesus is more than a man. Jesus is God who had come in the form of man and John declares that all who believe in Jesus will receive eternal life. Matthew and John are 2 of the 12 disciples who spent 3 years with Jesus during His minstry. They describe the miracles they saw Jesus performed, recorded some of His teachings, and tell what they had observed personally of His death and resurrection. John gives the proof of Jesus' deity and stresses the importance of believing Him. Matthew presents the proof that Jesus is the King of whom the Old Testament prophets wrote. He quotes the prophecies and their fulfilment, traces Jesus' royal lineage and describes the principles of His Kingdom. Mark was a yound man living in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus' ministry there. He was probably among the crowds that heard Jesus preached, saw His miracles and saw Him crucified. Later Mark was closely associated with Peter and probably learnt from him some of the details given in his gospel. Luke, the physician, investigated carefully the reports about Jesus. He wrote 2 books (his gospel and Acts) to give a prominent friend an accurate record of the life of Jesus and the growth of His church. Luke interviewed Mary and many others to learn the details about Jesus' miraculous birth, life, death and resurrection. He checked on many of the healings that Jesus had performed and described what had happened. |
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