Another Look At The Gospel According To The Gospels

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Three years ago I decided to do a study on what these books have to say about the gospel.  I wondered: "Do we see the gospel clearly presented in each of the gospels?"  Or did the gospel writers omit declaring the gospel with hopes we would find it elsewhere?

Consider the following:

• Suppose there were eyewitnesses to the life, teachings, and death of Jesus.
• Suppose they decided to write a books to share with others.
• They would not assume their audience had access to other books about Jesus, so they would try to include all the important details.
• They would hope that those who read their books would gain enough details to believe, trust, and follow Jesus as Lord and Savior.
• Suppose they used the term gospel throughout their books.
• Suppose they described Jesus and His disciples preaching the gospel. 
• Suppose they ended some of the books with a call encouraging others to share the gospel with the whole world.

I believe we have a few books of this nature.

Here are links to six posts I put together as I went through these 4 books that frequently refer to the gospel. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

1. Gospel in the Gospels - introduction and some thoughts to consider
2. Gospel in Matthew - verses related to the term gospel in Matthew
3. Gospel in Mark - verses related to the term gospel in Mark
4. Gospel in Luke - verses related to the term gospel in Luke
5. Gospel in John - verses in John that that make similar points
6. Gospel in the Gospels - Summary

That Was Easy

I want to emphasize some easy to understand principles of following Jesus.

Sometimes the walk is tougher than the talk.  But I'm afraid sometimes the talk is more complicated than it needs to be.

As I've sorted through some stuff that has hurt my brain, I have come to some clarity on some simple thoughts.

Easy to understand essential beliefs:

Trust in Jesus

Easy to understand how we should live:

Love God and love others.

Easy to understand how we do that:

The Holy Spirit does the work of the Holy Spirit.

Easy to understand disciple making:

See one, do one, teach one.

Easy to understand leadership:

Demonstrating to others how to follow.

Easy to understand church:

Get together with other followers to encourage each other to follow Jesus.

Easy to understand church unity:

There is one church, it meets in many different places and times.

I'm simply organizing some simple thoughts on what I think it means to follow Jesus.

I'm not claiming that living in this reality is easy.

I'd love to hear your thoughts? Have I missed any big ones?
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Here are some less easy to understand related posts if you want to understand the more complex process I took to come to a place of seeing things so simply:

• What Must I Believe Part 1 - 6 part series looking at passages related to essential beliefs
• What Does It Look Like To Follow Christ? - relating to love, and the work of the Holy Spirit
• Love is Essential - passages that speak to love being the greatest commandment
• Church Etymology - what does church mean?
• Recent Church Activities - examples of simple church activities
• See One, Do One, Teach One - disciple making
• Leading The Way - what Jesus said on the topic of leadership, and a look at other passages