John rebuked the ruler Herod because he had married his brother’s wife, Herodias, and had done many other evil things. He was also upset about John baptizing people, so because of all of this he locked John up in prison.
LK 3:19-20
Home » Bible study » Condensed Gospel (Page 17)
Category Archives: Condensed Gospel
The beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist
God sent John to serve as a witness to testify about the light that is Christ, so that everyone could believe through that light. John himself was not the light, but he came to tell others about it. The true light, who gives enlightenment to everyone, was about to be revealed to the world. Christ was in the world and the world was created through Christ, yet the world did not recognize him. He came to those he was called to and yet they did not welcome him. But to those who did welcome him, he gave them the honor of being the children of God. Those who believed in Christ were born out of the will of God and not by way of genealogy or human desire.
The word of God that is Christ took on human form and lived among us. We saw his glory as the only begotten Son of the heavenly Father, and that glory was full of grace and truth.
John testified about him by telling people “This is the One I was talking about when I said ‘There is someone who is coming after me, who is greater than I am because he existed before me.’ Indeed we have all received blessing upon blessing from him, because even though the Law was given through Moses, Christ has brought us the grace of forgiveness. No one has ever seen God, but he has been revealed to us through his one and only Son, who is at the Father’s side.”
JN 1:6-18
God’s word came to John the son of Zechariah while he was in the wilderness. This was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. At the same time, Herod was the ruler of Galilee and his brother Philip ruled the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruled Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas were high priests during this time as well.
John went out into the wilderness of Judea and everywhere around the Jordan, preaching about a baptism to forgive sins for those who are repentant. He was saying “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has arrived.” Everyone from the countryside of Judea and the city of Jerusalem came to him and he baptized them in the Jordan River while they confessed their sins.
He is the one the prophet Isaiah spoke about when he said –
“Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of you who will prepare the way before you. He is a lone voice crying out into the wilderness, saying ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight!’ Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, the crooked path will straighten, the rough path will become smooth, and the entire world will see God’s salvation.”
MT 3:1-3, MK 1:1-5, LK 3:1-6
John’s clothing was made of camel hair and he wore a leather belt around his waist. He ate only locusts and wild honey.
MT 3:4, MK 1:6
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized by him, he said “You are a nest of snakes! Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is coming? You need to act in a way that proves you are repentant. Don’t think you can get away with saying ‘We have Abraham as our father’, because God can produce children for Abraham from the stones that are here! Even now the ax is poised to chop away at the root of the tree! Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”
MT 3:7-10, LK 3:7-9
The crowds asked John “What should we do?” He answered “Anyone who has two shirts should give one to the person who has nothing to wear, and if you have extra food you should give it to those who are hungry.” Tax collectors came to be baptized by him and they asked “What should we do?” He answered “Collect only what you are required to by law and nothing more.” Soldiers questioned him in the same manner and he replied “Don’t use force or false accusations to extort money from anyone – be satisfied with what you get paid.”
LK 3:10-14
All the people were debating amongst themselves if John was the Messiah or not. Priests and Levites were sent from Jerusalem to ask him “Who are you?” John said “I am not the Messiah.” Then they asked him “Are you Elijah?” John again said no. Then they asked him “Are you the Prophet?” John again answered “No.” “Then who are you?” they asked. “We have to give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” John said “I am a lone person crying out in the wilderness – Make straight the path of the Lord – just like the prophet Isaiah said.”
LK 3:15, JN 1:19-23
Since they had been sent from the Pharisees they asked him “Why do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, Elijah, or the Prophet?”
John said “I baptize using water, but there is One coming after me who is more powerful than I am. I am not even worthy to take off his shoes. He will baptize you using the Holy Spirit and fire. He stands among you but you don’t recognize him. He is ready to separate the good from the bad, just like how a farmer gathers the good wheat into his barn but burns the chaff in an unending fire.”
He used many other similar warnings to announce the good news of the kingdom of heaven to everyone. All this happened across the Jordan in Bethany, where John was baptizing.
MT 3:11-12, MK 1:7-8, LK 3:16-18, JN 1:24-28
How to pray
“Be careful not to do good deeds or give charity publicly so you will be noticed. If you do, you will lose your reward from your Father in heaven. Whenever you give anything to a poor person, don’t call attention to the fact like hypocrites do. They announce it in houses of worship and on the streets to call attention to themselves. Truly, that attention is the only reward they will get! Instead, when you help someone out, do it secretly so not even your left hand knows what your right hand is doing. Your Father who sees everything will reward you.
When you pray, don’t act like the hypocrites do, who make sure that they are noticed by standing in houses of worship and on street corners. That attention is all the reward they will get. Instead when you pray, go off by yourself, shut the door and pray to your Father secretly. Your Father who sees everything will reward you.
Don’t repeat the same prayers over and over again, like other people do. They think their prayers will be answered if they repeat them many times. Your Father in heaven knows what you need before you ask him.”
MT 6:1-8
Tell the truth, go the second mile, and love your enemies.
Tell the truth.
“The Law of Moses also says that you shall not break your vows – you must honor your vows to God. But I’m telling you something deeper – don’t make any vows! Don’t swear by heaven because it is God’s throne, and don’t swear by the earth because it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem because it is the city of David, our great king. Don’t even swear by your head, because you can’t change even a single one of your hairs white or black. Simply let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’. To say anything more than this is wrong.”
MT 5:33-37
Go the 2nd mile.
“The Law of Moses says ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I’m telling you something deeper – don’t retaliate against someone who does wrong. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn and offer him the other one. If someone sues you to take your shirt away, give them your coat as well. If someone demands that you carry a heavy load for a mile, carry it 2 miles instead. Give to anyone who asks and don’t refuse anyone who wants to borrow something from you.”
MT 5:38-42
Love your enemies.
“You’ve been taught the message ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemies.’ But I’m telling you something deeper – love your enemies and pray for people who persecute you. By doing this you will reveal yourself to be children of your Father in heaven. God makes the sun shine on those who are evil as well as those who are good, and God makes rain fall on the just and the unjust alike. How does it help you if you are nice only the people who are nice to you? Even sinful people can do that. If you welcome only your friends, how are you doing anything different than everyone else? Even people who don’t believe in God do that. Your goal is to be perfect, just like God is perfect.”
MT 5:43-48
Adultery in the heart
“The Law of Moses says ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I’m telling you something even deeper than that. Anyone who even looks at a woman in a lustful way has committed adultery with her in his heart.”
MT 5:27-28
Murder begins in the heart
“The Law of Moses says ‘Do not murder,’ and if you do you will face judgment. But I tell you something more – even if you are angry with your brother without reason you will be subject to judgment. Even verbally abusing him and calling him names will get you brought into court. Cursing him will put you in danger of the fires of hell.
Therefore if you are about to give your offering at the altar in the Temple and you recall that someone has something against you, leave your offering before the altar. First you have to go and make things right with him and then come and make your offering. Reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you’re on the way to court, otherwise he might hand you over to the judge and then you’ll get thrown in prison. Trust me, you’ll be stuck in there until you pay every bit of the debt!”
MT 5:21-26
Christ fulfills the Law
“Don’t think that I came to negate the Law of Moses or the words of the Prophets. I did not come to negate them but to fulfill them. Mark my words, not a letter or even part of the letter of the Law will disappear until the reason for the Law is realized. Because of this, anyone who violates even the smallest commandment and teaches other people to do so will be in the lowest position in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever obeys and teaches the commandments will be seen as great in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness is greater than that of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”
MT 5:17-20
The yeast of the Pharisees
The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders approached Jesus with a test, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
He sighed deeply and said “You know how to read the signs in the sky. When the sky is red at night, you know there will be good weather the next day, and when the sky is red in the morning you know there will be storms. Yet you don’t know how to read the signs of the times! Why does this wicked generation demand to see a sign? It will see nothing except the sign of Jonah.” He walked away from them, got back on the boat, and went to the other side of the sea.
When they reached the other side, the disciples realized that they had forgotten to get more bread. They had only one loaf with them. Jesus said “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.” They began to talk among themselves about the fact that they didn’t have any more bread.
Jesus was aware of this and he said “Why are you talking about not having any more bread? Don’t you understand yet? Do you have eyes and ears and yet are blind and deaf? Don’t you remember how five loaves of bread were able to feed 5000 people, or that seven loaves of bread fed 4000 people? Remember the number of large baskets of leftover pieces? Why do you not understand that when I said ‘Beware the yeast of the Pharisees,’ I wasn’t talking about bread?”
Then they understood that he was talking about what the Pharisees taught.
MT 16:1-12, MK 8:11-21
Feeding 4,000 people
Another large crowd had gathered around Jesus. He called his disciples to him and said “I have compassion for this crowd because they have stayed with me three days and they have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry then they might collapse on the way, and some of them have come from very far away.”
The disciples replied “Where can we possibly find enough bread in this isolated place to feed such a large crowd?” Jesus asked them “How many loaves do you have with you?” They answered “Seven, and a few small fish.”
He then ordered everyone in the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and the fish, he gave thanks and broke them into pieces. He kept on distributing the pieces to the disciples, who then gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate until they were full. They picked up seven large baskets of leftover pieces after the meal. There were 4000 men, along with women and children, in the crowd. He then dismissed the crowd, got into the boat with his disciples, and traveled to a different region.
MT 15:32-39, MK 8:1-10
Healing many people
Jesus then traveled alongside the Sea of Galilee. He climbed up a mountain and sat down. Large crowds came to him there, bringing to him people who were lame, blind, deformed, mute, or had other maladies. He healed everyone who was brought to him.
The crowd was amazed when they saw those who were mute began to speak, those who were lame able to walk, and those who were blind able to see. Even people who were deformed were made whole. Everyone in the crowd gave glory to the God of Israel.
MT 15:29-31
A man who was deaf and had a speech impediment was brought there by a person who begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man and heal him.
Jesus led him away from the crowds so he could heal him privately. He put his fingers in the man’s ears, spat, and then touched the man’s tongue. He then looked up to heaven, sighed deeply, and said in Aramaic “Ephphatha!” which means “Be opened!” The man was instantly freed from his afflictions and was able to see and speak perfectly.
He ordered the crowd to not tell anyone about what had happened, but the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. They were amazed and told everyone “He does everything well! He even makes deaf people hear and cures people of being unable to speak!”
MK 7:31-37
betsybeadhead 
You must be logged in to post a comment.