The Gospel In A Nutshell

Jesus is the Son of God. The Trinity is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and they were there from the beginning of time according to Genesis 1:26. In fact, the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters when the earth was without form. Genesis 1:2. God created everything we see in 6 days and rested on the 7th. Everything God creates is good, on purpose, and for a purpose. Nothing and nobody got here by accident. Revelation 4:11 God had intended for man to live in harmony with Him forever in the Garden of Eden, unfortunately Adam and Eve listened to Satan, and they ate the forbidden fruit. Nobody knows for sure what the fruit was, but nevertheless they sinned. This resulted in them being banned from Eden and sin entered the world. Because of this, we are all born in sin. Therefore, the world is in do much chaos. War, sickness, violence, death are the results of Adam's sin. Even the animal kingdom was affected. Therefore, they attack each other and us. But one day that's all going to change. Isaiah 11:6-8.

For thousands of years, people continued to sin in the eyes of God. The 40-day flood occurred because the sin was so great. God regretted creating man. Only Noah and his family were saved because they followed God. Genesis 6-9. As time went on, people started to call on the name of God and serve Him. During this time though, there was no one to take the sins of humanity. During the Old Testament times, animals were sacrificed as an offering for the sins of the people. Leviticus 1-7. Once a year, the priests would select a clean animal to put the sins of everyone in it. The animal was sacrificed for everyone, but that was just temporary. People still sinned.

One day, it was prophesied that a Savior was going to come to us. Isaiah 9:6. We learned about how He would suffer and what this would mean. Isaiah 53:2-12. But what's interesting is that Jesus was making appearances before He ever came to Earth. He showed up in Daniel 3:25 with the 3 Hebrew men in the fiery furnace and He very well could have been the one who told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son Genesis 18.

In between the books of Malachi and Matthew, there was a period of silence for 400 years. God didn't speak a word. Before Jesus was born, God spoke to the people through prophets, visions, dreams, and signs. You see, because of the sins committed, only certain people had access to God. While it's true God is love, He's also a just and holy God. He is complete perfection and sin literally can't be in His presence. God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29 God's word is beyond powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Hebrews 4:12

Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary in Bethlehem. There wasn't any room for Mary and Joseph in the inn, so Mary had to give birth surrounded by animals. Luke 2 He was given the name Jesus as instructed by the angel Gabriel. Luke 1:31. The details about Jesus's childhood aren't talked about in detail except for when He got separated from His parents at 12 years old. Luke 2:41-52. What is known is that He was a carpenter before He started His ministry.

At 30 years old, Jesus was baptized by His cousin John the Baptist and after the Holy Spirit landed on Him and God Himself proclaimed that this was His beloved Son, Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and nights. Jesus was tempted by Satan during this time and Jesus resisted every temptation. Matthew 3:13-4:11, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-4:13, John 1:29-34.

When Jesus returned from the desert, He was full of the Holy Spirit and His ministry began. In addition to healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons and changing water into wine, Jesus preached about the kingdom of God. His first recorded sermon is the sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have similar and different accounts on Jesus. Jesus's relationships with the 12 disciples likewise were unique in their own way. Jesus was closest to Peter, John, and James. Jesus was very popular with the people.

Unfortunately, there was a group of religious people called the Pharisees who knew the Bible extremely well. They had a form of godliness, but they weren't truly so.

2 Timothy 3:5 The Pharisees were so stuck in tradition that they either couldn't or wouldn't see Jesus as He is.... the Son of God. They tried more than once to trick Him into doing or saying something that could be used against Him. The woman caught in adultery is a great example of how far they were willing to go to make Jesus look bad. John 8:1-11 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and knew exactly what to say and do to make their evil plans fail. The Pharisees got so angry that they plotted to kill Jesus. Unfortunately, they managed to get Judas; one of the 12 disciples to help them. Judas already has a problem with Jesus because despite being with Him for 3 years, Judas was a thief. He stole money from the disciples. John 12:6