have you ever noticed in the Bible there are four different accounts of the life of Jesus Matthew Mark Luke and John so why are there for and what's the difference we're going to answer that in this video in case you and I haven't met yet I'm Keith Farren your Bible coach my passion is helping you move from should to want when it comes to reading studying understanding applying and enjoying the Bible so if that sounds good to you you're going to want to click that little button down there so you don't miss a video Welcome to another video in the Bible study for beginners series here on this YouTube channel where I'm answering the questions I get asked tons of times I have each question that is in this series I've been asked at least 50 times in the last video I walked through what I call the new disciple challenge it's the answer to the question where should a beginner start and I recommend people start not just with one book but actually start with five four of them are Matthew Mark Luke and John you can check out that video to look at Matthew Mark Luke John and acts and how I think that four-month Journey can lay the foundation but here in this video I wanted to do a little bit deeper dive into these four gospels four different accounts of the life of Jesus and why we actually even have for and what the big idea is for each one who wrote it all that so that's what we're going to look at here and I want to give you some some downloads as well to go along so I want to give you that plan that I gave away in the last video the new disciple challenge that lays out that four month reading plan I want to give you a one page age overview of each of the gospels so you have that and then I always love to give away my one page kind of four questions simplest way to study any Bible passage so you'll find the links to all of those free resources down below and we're going to tackle these in the order that you'll find them in your Bible Matthew Mark Luke John so we begin with Matthew written by shockingly Matthew one of the 12 disciples sometimes he is called Levi so Matthew Levi that's the same person he was a tax collector and one of the 12 disciples now Matthew his audience for his gospel are Jewish Hebrew Believers people who really really knew the Old Testament well and his big idea for Matthew is that Jesus is the king or the Messiah and so he quotes the Old Testament more than any of the other gospels references the Old Testament has quotations from it talks about the Prophecies of the Old Testament because his audience would have been very familiar with the Old Testament Matthew another Unique Piece of Matthew is that Matthew includes what they call the discourses which are there are five different really kind of longer sermons by Jesus longer times that you hear Jesus speaking and teaching the most famous of which is in Matthew 5 6 and 7 three chapters uh devoted to Jesus teaching commonly known as The Sermon on the Mount so that's the Book of Matthew next we have the gospel of Mark written by Mark or John Mark who's mentioned in the book of Acts he was not one of the original disciples but he was the cousin of Barnabas and one of the traveling Companions of the Apostle Paul his big idea is that Jesus is the son of God and the suffering servant his audience was unlike Matthew who was writing to Jewish Hebrew Christians he was writing to Gentile Christians these were people that wouldn't be as familiar with the Old Testament the Hebrew scriptures and so so he doesn't mention the Old Testament a whole lot he doesn't quote from it a lot doesn't talk a lot about the prophecies he just Dives right in Mark is actually the shortest of the four gospels and he just jumps in with a bang you find that he focuses a lot more on what Jesus did rather than what Jesus said it's very fast paced you'll find a lot of Miracles and healings in the gospel of Mark third we have the Gospel of Luke now Luke as with Mark was not one of the 12 disciples but was a traveling companion of Paul he was a physician and he you could call him the detail guy he really shares a lot of details now his big idea is that Jesus is the son of man and the Savior for all that he is for all of us his audience is Theophilus now Theophilus means friend of God and some Scholars will say that Theophilus was most likely an individual person named Theophilus and others with that friend of God meaning to the name Theophilus that believed that that Luke was writing to to Gentile Christians in general so he was writing to Gentile Christians and he was wanting people to know that he is the savior of us all and so Luke more than any other gospel folks focuses on on the the outcasts a lot of the people that were were lesser thans in society and so Luke is the only place where you're going to find the stories of the Good Samaritan and Zacchaeus and the prodigal son you're going to find those stories in the Gospel of Luke the final gospel is the Gospel of John written by John 1 of the 12 disciples now John takes a very different approach from the other gospel writers most scholars believe that John was the last of the four gospels written that John was most likely aware of what Matthew Mark and Luke had written and he took a very different approach his big idea what he wanted to get across was that Jesus is God In the Flesh he Paints the picture of Jesus's Divinity and his Humanity it it's the only gospel that is really written to a general audience the others were written to either a Jewish audience or a gentile audience and John is just writing his gospel to anyone including to you and to me and John clearly paints this picture of Jesus's humanity and his divinity kind of the the main characteristic if you will of John's gospel are the seven I am statements so you may have heard these before but Jesus says I am the bread of life he says I am the light of the world he says I am the gate I am the Good Shepherd I am the resurrection and the life I am the way the truth and the life and I am the True Vine now those seven I am statements are uh are are seven of actually eight because at one point in John 10 Jesus simply says I am when he was talking to the Crowther asking me who he is says I am and they knew that he was claiming to be God because he used the same word that God used in Exodus 3 14 when he was talking to Moses at the burning bush and Moses says when he's when God's telling him to go and tell pharaoh to let the people go and he says who should I say sent me into and God says tell them that I am sent you I am who I am so when Jesus said I am the same that crowd knew that he was claiming to be God that Jesus knew that he was not just a man but that he was God In the Flesh and John wanted to make that clear to us as well so there you have an overview of the four gospels again down below you'll find links to where you can download these one-page overviews as well as the new disciple challenge that 16-week reading plan and the simplest way to study any Bible passage I really hope this was helpful and if it was would you hit that like button and subscribe and share this with a friend so that they too can understand the four gospels that point to Jesus as the King Jesus as the servant of all Jesus as the son of man and Jesus as God In the Flesh I'll see you in the next video