This introduction serves as an invitation to join in an on-going journey of discovery. You will not need to buy tickets nor make travel plans. All that's required is your Bible and a quiet place to read and meditate. Together we'll explore the Gospels and Acts which present the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
Several years ago, a desire to make sense of Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, led me to spend an entire summer working my way through its 176 verses in the original Hebrew. Over the next several years, I applied that approach to a study of the Book of Psalms. What resulted from that study can be found at the following address,
thisyearthepaslms.com
This site contains a year-long series of devotionals that cover all 150 psalms. I then felt led to take the same approach in developing the series of devotionals on the Gospels and Acts which you are currently reading.
The four Gospels along with the Book of Acts open the New Testament by giving us four accounts of the life and ministry of the most important person in human history, Jesus Christ. Each of the four authors provides us with his own perspective of the earthly ministry of Jesus.
Matthew, one of the twelve apostles, stands as the most Jewish portrait of Jesus. His is the longest of the four and contains a number of quotations from the Old Testament in an effort to demonstrate that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah who fulfilled all the hopes and desires of God’s chosen people.
Mark by contrast gives us a portrait of Jesus that would appeal more to the Gentile world. His is the shortest of the four and is an action-filled narrative, written to build bridges with a non-Jewish audience so that all who read it might embrace the message of the Gospel.
Luke, a medical doctor and associate of Paul on his missionary journeys, wrote a two volume account. The first part, the Gospel according to Luke, traced Jesus’ life and ministry from his birth through his ascension into heaven. The second part called the Acts of the Apostles traced the history of the early church from the Day of Pentecost until Paul’s imprisonment in Rome. After completing the four Gospels, we will also delve into the Book of Acts.
The Apostle John wrote his fourth Gospel in order to demonstrate to everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, that Jesus is the eternal God incarnate, the Word become flesh. As he repeatedly emphasized, the only appropriate response to the coming of God’s Son into the world is to trust in him alone for our salvation.
Each study follows an identical format. The TRANSLATION segment is adapted from the 1901 American Standard Version, rendering the text in an accurate, readable English that seeks to reflect the original Greek. In the OBSERVATIONS segment, I highlight key repetitions, synonyms, figures of speech, and grammatical features that point us to the meaning of each passage. I then provide an OUTLINE and an IDEA STATEMENT that capture the essence of each passage. Every study concludes with an APPLICATION in which I share how each passage has impacted me personally. Since I have served as a worship leader for many years, I have included a number of hymns and worship songs. My prayer is that you will find these blogs helpful and informative and, above all, a stimulus to your own study of God’s Word.
BIOGRAPHY - Jim Kutnow was raised in a Christian home and was led to saving faith in Christ through the preaching ministry of Billy Graham. He holds a degree in European History from Princeton University (1970) and two degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary: a Master of Theology (1974) and a Doctor of Ministry (1996). He served on the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary for six years (1976-82). He left Dallas to serve as Senior Pastor at The Blue Church in suburban Philadelphia (1982-1999) and then at Milan Bible Church in Milan, Italy (2000-2015). He and his wife, Lynda, now live in Kansas City where they together serve at Crossworld. Their family includes three children and five grandchildren. To his dear wife, Lynda, Jim dedicates this study of the Gospels and Acts.