Biblical/Doctrinal Studies:
Focus on Jesus Series
Preface
by Ed Vasicek
I prayerfully determined to preach the "series
of a lifetime," taking over two years to preach through the life of Christ,
combining material from all four Gospels. Logic dictates that every follower of
Christ needs to understand the person, life, and the teachings of Jesus. Yet
most Christians are never exposed to a thorough study
of the life and teachings of Jesus, the Christ.
I had preached through Luke, the longest Gospel in terms of words or verses,
twice before (taking a year and a half each time) and most of John in separated
segments. I have taught all the Gospels, in survey fashion, on several
occasions.
This time around, I focused my research on the Jewish background and roots of
the Gospels. I studied material from Messianic Jewish sources, mainstream Jewish
sources, and scholarly materials from mainstream, conservative evangelical
sources. Many of these addressed the cultural and religious backgrounds of the
first century. Others addressed figures of speech unique to the period within
Judaism.
In the process, I decided to include a handout sheet for each sermon for our
church folks to collect. A few of them were
fill-in-the-blank sermon outlines, which I have chosen not to include. Of the
remainder, the majority contained relevant information that related to the
sermon-lesson. Some reinforced and documented material mentioned in the sermon;
other material was supplemental (items I did not want to address during my
sermon, but relevant to the text). A few pages, such as those addressing the
Sermon on the Mount, actually break new ground.
Since some of this information is hard to come by, I thought I would share this
with other students of Scripture. The bibliography will guide readers to find
unique materials that help unlock some unclear passages in the Gospels. Some of
these books are reviewed on
Amazon.
Although he is not quoted, I would especially
like to thank my "Synoptic Gospels" professor at Moody Bible Institute, Dr. Paul
Benware, who, in 1979, aimed me in the right direction and whose insights I
still cherish.
Since brevity was crucial (all handouts were limited to one page), and since I
was writing this material at quite a clip, my style may seem a bit unpolished.
Perhaps I will take the time to rework some of this material in the future.
If you are interested in further material, most of my sermons from this series
are posted on the
Sermon Central website.
God bless you as you seriously seek to not only
know the Savior in a saving way, but also to know about Him and the real
meaning of what He taught.
Pastor Ed Vasicek
Pastor, Highland Park Church
Kokomo, Indiana USA
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Highland Park Church