Sermons By Ed

Study Notes Ed Underwood Matthew: Think Again; The Kingdom of Heaven is Near! “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (Peter to Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 16:16) The four Gospels are corresponding accounts that provide a complex portrait of the person and work, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, Savior of the world, and Son of God. These historical books encompass about 46% of the New Testament. Though they were not the first books written, the early church placed the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament because they are the bedrock upon which the book of Acts and the Epistles are constructed. The Gospels are written as biographies with a purpose. They are thematic portraits of the life of Christ focusing on the brief public ministry of the Son of God. Each author selects distinctive events and teachings of the Lord Jesus to present a purposefully skewed account to accomplish their purpose: Matthew, a Jew, writes to persuade his countrymen that Christ i