Here are some great videos from this year’s Bible Times Marketplace. It’s worth it just to watch famous ACU profs in togas.
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I just passed 25 years of preaching, having launched out with my young wife and 2-month-old son to our first ministry in Wilmington, NC around the first of June, 1982. It’s been a wonderful (mostly) two-and-a-half decades.
I’m wondering what % of the sermons I’ve preached in those 25 years I’d be embarrassed of to have to listen to!
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The all-star tournament is going well so far. We’ve won all three games by the ten-run rule. It’s going to get harder quickly.
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I don’t think I’ve ever asked this. What’s your favorite gospel? And why? I think I’m staking my claim with Mark. On some days, the answer would be Luke. But today it’s Mark.
My favorite is Mark. He writes and shows us “Jesus as an Action Hero.” When I finish mark I always sit back and think, “Wow, Jesus was amazing.”
I’ll take Luke. Hasn’t always been, but right now … Luke. The prominence of women, the poor, and the forgotten make me want to learn from the parts of Jesus’ teachings I ignored for most of my life.
And I’ll take Wilmington, NC, as a great place to live … and a really nice place to preach, too.
John has a sense of the mystical and talks a lot about love. With John, I get the feel that he writes with a sense that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
I’m with Fajita— John’s my man. I like the thought of him being the “best friend”. I know if someone was going to write my story, I’d want it to be my best friend.
I’ll put my vote in for John too! I fell in love with this Gospel in Ross Cochran’s class at Harding and it has been at the top of my list since then!
I have to go with Luke on this one. Jesus gets his hands really dirty in Luke’s gospel. At times I am a Matthew guy, but I love Luke’s storytelling.
I’m a big fan of John. I like knowing it was written by Jesus’ best friend. I really love hearing Jesus share his insights into why he came and what his mission was all about.
I like Matthew’s geneology of Jesus showing God uses both men and women who have made mistakes to bring about a perfect messiah.
I’ve been hanging out in Matthew for so long these days, and love his rich Jewish slant. So, for now he’s my favorite. I sat at the feet of a good friend years ago as she taught through Mark, and at the time that was my favorite. At Christmas Luke is my favorite. This is a hard question!
And at Easter John is my favorite. Love reading Jesus’ prayers in Gethsemane…sorry, got sidetracked by kiddos!
John is my favorite… (Thanks, James)
I am the least familiar with Mark - Does someone have a good book recommendation for Mark’s gospel?
Jesus and his posse are always getting in and out of boats in Mark’s Gospel and there are so many demon stories…
What’s up with all that?
I’d probably go with Matthew or Luke–Matthew because of the Jewish slant and the Sermon on the Mount, and Luke because of the emphasis on Jesus fulfilling Isa. 61 in his dealings with poor and oppressed people. So–the gospel of Jubilee or of the Sermon?
Tough decision. I hang out in Matthew a lot, but I love Isaiah and the idea of Jubilee. Guess I’ll go with Matthew.
John… or Luke… I could go with either, but I think I’ll stay with John because of all the poignant teaching from Jesus during the last supper.
The Book of Mark is underlined & scribbled with more notes in my Bible than the other Gospels, with Matthew marked up as a close second. I’m not sure that means I like Mark the best, but maybe his telling of “The Story” speaks to me more plainly.
Luke. I like the clear, structured language and storytelling pattersn that he uses.
John I like - but I’m still struggling with understanding a lot of his message.
And, another thing….there are some folks in Searcy who are so very grateful that you came their way in that first 25 years of your preaching ministry. They were blessed, for sure.
Luke, hands down.
I can’t believe I agree with Larry!!
Luke, hands down!!
David J., it sounds like we think a lot alike. I made a comment in class once that Isaiah was to the N. Testament like The Hobbit is to LOTR. They all just kinda stared at me blankly, but maybe that can be appreciated around here!
The gospel of Ray B only because it is clear, obvious and infallible.
I think Mark is easiest to understand, so I like it best. When I try to read Matthew, I get all confused about the quotes from the prophets. Maybe I don’t understand how to read prophecies, but I look up the reference in the OT and wonder how it could mean one thing in the prophet’s day and time, and then Matthew can pull it out (of the blue, it seems) and say it applies to Jesus. It’s confusing, and I end up steering away from it.
I wish I understood this better. I am reminded of all the things I don’t understand in the book of Revelation, and how it must have meant something significant to those it was written to, but when I hear radio preachers talking about it, they are dead-on sure of lots of ways it is being fulfilled here and now - and they conflict with each other. I can’t help but wonder if Matthew was doing something like that when he wrote his book: just pulling things out of the prophets that seemed to fit Jesus, and then saying he was the fulfillment of them. I’m not trying to be disrespectful of the gospels in asking this; it’s just that when I read the references, the connection sometimes seems strained or contrived.
Please don’t anybody blast me for saying this. I wouldn’t mind helpful comments though.
LUKE!!! Can’t get out of it.
Hands down my favorite gospel is John. I love the way he just hits the ground running. He just starts out with the eternal becoming the incarnate. John also had such a close relationship with Jesus and was one of his closest friends. Being the sort of post-modern I am, I also enjoy his take on love and redemption and light.
Luke because of his emphasis on discipleship.
I know you mean the books that we commonly call “The Gospels”, but for my money I will take Paul in Galatians, especially words like:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
I find myself more in John, especially chapters 20-21 with Jesus’ encounters with Thomas and Peter.
Peace.
Luke. Especially the King James version, where the story of Jesus’ birth is told. Brings tears to my eyes every time I read it.
Do not know what sermons you would not want to hear again, but I continually replay in my mind your sermon from April 9,2000. Changed my life more than you will ever know!
John! [& 1 John, although it's not a "gospel"]
They bring me to my knees in worship of the King like few others. John wears his heart on his sleeve when he writes about his friend and Savior. I want to be more like John in my open worship and love of Jesus!!
I would pick John, but I have been working on a finely honed theological heresy and John really tears it apart. Therefore, I avoid reading his gospel as much as possible. I do love the fact that John is more theological than historical.
I guess right now I would pick Matthew. I like how he draws so much on the past; the foundation of who Christ is and what Christ teaches. I love the discourses in Matthew. Perhaps that is because I, myself, am truly a nerd.
Gospel of Luke. For two reasons.
Reason #1: The parable of the Good Samaritan
The single best articulation of the Christian ethic.
Reason #2: The parable of the Prodigal Son
The single best articulation of the Heart of God.
Within those two stories is the whole of the Christian story.
Hey, CK, not to worry. One of these days some enterprising person is going to take Anthony Saldarini’s book on Matthew’s Jewish Community and translate it into popular English, and then it will make more sense to lots of us. In short, CK, Saldarini (and others) suggest that readers of Matthew view him as having a clear and definite political agenda: to wit, drawing a clear and uncompromising distinction between the pseudo-Jewish elite and the masses of ordinary Jews who are the true followers of God through Jesus. To accomplish that, sort of as a contemporary manifesto of what it means to be truly Jewish (that is, a member of Matthew’s community), Matthew takes literary liberties with a great deal of the prophetic literature and conforms the prophets to his political agenda.
To grasp Saldarini’s POV, of course, one has to loosen one’s tethers to a traditional but narrow concept of canon, a concept that essentially requires the biblical authors to be either (a) mere transcribers who bring nothing of their own to the text or (b) fully and self-consciously (paranoidly?) cognizant of their roles in writing inerrant, canonical literature.
It took qb a long, long time to turn loose of those precious but unquestioned presuppositions, but Trevor T. and John W. helped me get there, aided and abetted by Saldarini.
qb
BTW, CK, looking at Matthew through Saldarini’s lens really makes chapter 23 leap off the page as the climactic polemic that it is.
qb
I am addicted to Matthew right now because it lays out most clearly to me what a disciple of Jesus would do. It is a story that you appreciate much more clearly if you understand the back story and the things going on in the first century. I love the time dedicated to the question, “If Jesus is the Messiah, why are things going so bad right now?”
I like how Matthew grounds me and Luke provokes me.
Matthew drives me back to the OT to find the Kingdom of Heaven there. In that way, for me, it serves as a recommendation of the radical behavior of Jesus in Luke. It’s as if Matthew says “Jesus is a totally legit prophet, because he preaches the word of God as faithfully as anyone before.” Then Luke comes along and says “‘Totally legit’ will blow your mind.”
I don’t know if I have a “favorite”, because I appreciate them all so very much……..BUT, if I was pushed to the wall at gun point, I think I would have to go with John. It’s an adventure every time I read it!
DU
John was always my favorite Gospel, but now with N.T. Wright I’m discovering an interest in the synoptics. It’s too soon to say which one, though.
Chris, I also fell in love with the Gospel of John in Ross’ class. His passion really wore off on me.
JOHN
I’ve always loved the amazing ‘little’ details he throws in to flesh the stories out. How great to have the benefit of his witness as a young man during Jesus’s ministry, and then later, with his letters, the wisdom of his many years!
(NT Wright is brilliant in ‘John for Everyone’, Parts I and 2)
I mostly relate to John. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus is teaching things and everyone seems to nod their heads and say, “Oh, now I get it.” But in John, everytime Jesus teaches something, people walk away confused or angry. The message seems to be this, now that you are thoroughly confused by Jesus, you have a question to ask yourself, “Am I going to follow Jesus because I understand him or am I going to follow him because I trust him?” That’s not an easy answer. If we follow because he makes sense to us, then we are really worshiping our ability to figure it out.
John 6:44
qb,
It isn’t necessary to abandon a conservative understanding of Scripture (inerrancy, God-breathed, etc.) in order to affirm that the authors of the New Testament appropriated OT prophetic material in a way that is profoundly inconsistent with historical-grammatical exegesis.
Mark….primarily for the exchange in chapter 9 re: “whoever is not against us is for us”!
Also Mike…wouldn’t it also be healthy to wonder what % of sermons got you in the most trouble? I’m sure most are thinking about the recent ones on the role of women, unity, etc., etc. I’m still laughing thinking about the Noah’s Ark one from the College days where each day more rabbits were introduced. Bet some of the more “mature” member probably weren’t amused.
I like Luke, Part II.
Oh, I know; technically “Acts of the Apostles” is not a gospel. But the parallels with Luke are too cool to overlook … and you can’t miss the hint that there is gospel deep within when Luke begins Part II with the line:
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach …”
John is my favorite. Let’s get to the cross as quickly as possible and then just camp out there for a while.
Favorite is hard to define for me. I like them all.
Easy. John. Dramatic.
“I always do what pleases the Father” — Jesus
Same as my favorite Beatle. (No, not St. Ringo.)
Hey there… I went to look at the Marketplace pics (since there was a very cute five year old with braids in the video Sunday!!!) and I couldn’t get the video to play. The picture slideshow worked, but not the video. I just tried to look at it again and the whole site is gone! Do you know what happened?
Mark, because of the original (shorter) ending.