Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John

Daily Inspirational Thoughts

to bless your life.

~

 A

6 - day devotional

presented by

Beth McLendon

This week's topic:

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

_______________

Day 1

Exploring the book

that Matthew wrote.

~

Matthew was one of the 12 disciples.

He was a tax collector.

He is also referred to as

Levi or the son of Alphaeus.

(See Mark 2:14)

Matthew was probably written
about 50 A.D.

This was probably the first Gospel written.

~

The key title
for Jesus in this book is

KING.

Matthew wanted to write a book of history

where Jesus is revealed as King.

~

The key image is a

LION

~

Key Word:

Kingdom

used 28 times

-

Other key words -

Righteous, Righteousness,
Church

~

The book was specifically written

to convince the Jews that

Jesus is Messiah.

Matthew uses many Old Testament quotes
to
convince the Jews
that
Jesus truly is the awaited Messiah.

~

16 times the book of Matthew

points to a fulfillment of the

Old Testament

~

We see the following phrase 16 times:

"This was done

that it might be fulfilled..."

~

Matthew is the book that

gives us

The Great Commission

to go and tell people

about Jesus.

See

Matthew 28:16-20

DISC Personality Styles

There are 4 main personality styles.

The "D" style.

The "I" style.

The "S" style.

The "C" style.

We are a blend of traits

from all four styles.

But each of us

has more traits

from one of the styles

than the other three.

The book of

Matthew

is often a favorite of people with the

"D"

DISC personality style.

The "D" style is outgoing and task-oriented.

They usually like to look
at
the big picture
and
are not as interested
in getting or giving
lots of details.

"Ds" want people to get busy
and
DO something
not just
talk about doing something.

We see this idea

in the

Great Commission!

Day 2

Exploring the book

that

Mark wrote.

~

The view of the early church
including
Irenaeus, Tertullian and
Clement of Alexandria
was that
Mark wrote this book

AND

that he got his information from Peter.

Papius tells us that  -

Elder John said Mark
was the interpreter of Peter.

-

So Peter told the stories to Mark,
and Mark wrote them down.

Some scholars believe that Mark was
John Mark
spoken about several times in the Bible:

Cousin of Barnabas - Col 4:10

Son of Mary who opened her home for church meetings - Acts 12:12

Accompanied Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary journey - Acts 12:25

Then left for Jerusalem - Acts 13:13

And some believe that Mark was the young boy in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus
was being betrayed - Mark 14:51-52

~

This book was probably written
about 67 A.D.

This was probably the third Gospel written.

It is the shortest Gospel.

~

The key title for Jesus in this book is

SERVANT.

~

Mark was specifically written to the Roman Christians.

~

The key image is an

OX

which is a strong servant

~

Key word found 34 times:

"Immediately"

Note that:

a servant goes from one task
to another
immediately

~

Key Verse

"For even the Son of Man did not come
to be served,
but
to serve,
and
to give His life
a ransom for many."

Mark 10:45

DISC Personality Styles

The book of

Mark

is often a favorite of people with the

"I"

DISC personality style.

The "I" style is outgoing
and people-oriented.

They like short, fast-paced writing.

They like lots of action.

The book of Mark
has a
fast-moving style
which
takes us quickly
from
situation to situation.

Day 3

Exploring the book of Luke.

~

Luke was a traveling companion of Paul.

(2 Tim. 4:11 and Philemon 1:24)

He was a medical doctor.

(Col. 4:14)

Most scholars believe that Luke was a Gentile.

If he was,
he was the only Gentile
to write a book of the Bible.

~

This book was probably written
between 58-60 A.D.

It was probably
the second Gospel written.

~

The key title for Jesus in this book is

Son of Man.

It was used 80 times.

~

Luke was specifically writing to the Greeks.

~

The key image is a

MAN

Luke presents Jesus as the Perfect Man.

Jesus is 100% God and 100% Man.

The key verse is:

"For the Son of Man

has come to

seek and to save

that which was lost."

Luke 19:10

~

Luke gives us information
about
the birth of Jesus
and
he gives us
the lineage of Mary.

(Matthew gives us the lineage of Joseph even though Jesus is not the biological son of Joseph.)

~

Luke also wrote the book of
Acts.

DISC Personality Styles

The book of

Luke

is often a favorite of people with the

"C"

DISC personality style.

The "C" style is reserved and task-oriented.

They usually like lots of detail.

They like to read things that are carefully researched and written.

Note that
Luke did careful research
about Jesus
before
writing the book of Luke.

In addition, there are extra details that are not in other Gospels such as:

Luke gives the most detailed
birth account of Jesus

Day 4

Exploring the book of John.

~

John was one of the 12 disciples.

John was a fisherman

He was probably the youngest of the disciples.

John's father was named Zebedee.

John's brother James was also one of the 12 disciples.

John and his brother James were sometimes called
"The Sons of Thunder."

In the book of John, he refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

~

This book was probably written
about 85-90 A.D. making it the last Gospel to be written.

Most scholars believe that John knew about the other three Gospels.

~

John starts his book

writing about:

before

the beginning of time.

John emphasizes that:

Jesus is God.

-

Jesus has always been God.

-

Jesus always will be God.

God is: Father, Son, Holy Spirit

Click here

to learn more about

The Trinity of God

~

The key title for Jesus in this book is

SON OF GOD

NOTE:

John gives over 60 names for Jesus

such as:

The Lamb of God

The Vine

The Door

The Good Shepherd

John wanted to write a book to proclaim the deity of Christ.

John wrote it with the whole world

in mind.

He wanted to help everyone

accept Jesus as Savior and Lord.

~

Key Verse:

"But these are written
that
you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God,
and that
believing you may have life in His name."

John 20:31

~

Two main Key Words:

BELIEVE

used 98 times

-

LIFE.

used 36 times.

-

Other key words -

Father, Verily-Verily, Knowing, Witness

~

The key image is an

Eagle.

~

In addition to the Gospel of John,

John also wrote 

First John

Second John

Third John

Revelation

DISC Personality Styles

The book of

John

is often a favorite of people with the

"S"

DISC personality style.

The "S" style is reserved and
people-oriented.

"Ss" are very relational

and

friendship-oriented.

John was the best friend of Jesus.

He was the disciple who was leaning on

Jesus' chest during the last supper.

Even though
John was a big strong man,
he was
unashamed
in expressing his
overwhelming love
for
his Savior.

How close we are to God is dependent on us not God.

John WANTED to be very emotionally close to Jesus
and
the others were not as interested in that kind of closeness.

The "S" style is the largest style with between 30 - 35% of the population.

Then when you add people
whose second highest style is "S"
that
really covers
most of the population.

So when people say
that the book of John
is the most popular Gospel -
now you have
some new possible reasons
for its popularity.

Day 6

Matthew, Mark, and Luke

together

are called

the

Synoptic Gospels.

~

This is because they often have the same story with a different prospective.

Book         Differences     Agreements

Matthew              42%                 58%

Mark                     7%                   93%

Luke                     59%                   41%

John                     92%                    8%

Thank you for joining me

for this page!

I invite you to consider our page

Bible Devotions

and of course don't forget about our page:

The Trinity

Jump to the top of

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

originally presented 8/1/16