Rose Guide to the Gospels

As a Bible Study teacher in my women's class and a former teaching director of Community Bible Study, I have actually taught all of the gospels verse by verse, except for Luke. I actually have a book entitled Harmony of the Gospels, which I use in my teaching especially around Easter as I cover the Resurrection. I’m delighted to see Chapter 6 "Evidence of the Resurrection" and Chapter 7 "How We Got the Gospels" included this resource. It makes it convenient to gather all these facts in one place. As an online coach for Christianity Explored, we are working through the Gospel of Mark. I can see myself using this resource quite often to mentor women.


The four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were writing to different audiences, emphasizing different aspects of Jesus life and ministry.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as synoptic gospels. Synoptic means the "same view" or "to see together". These three gospels have different audiences but basically the same viewpoint: Focus on a man who was from God. John’s Gospel views Jesus from the perspective of God becoming a man. The Gospel of John shows Jesus is the eternal, divine, incarnate Word. He came to show the world what God is like. One chart of the four Gospels is color-coded and includes the author, the date written, the primary audience, the focus, the link, the keywords, the unique features, and key verses. This would be a great sheet to duplicate for the class.

Chapter 2 The Life of Jesus, is one of my favorites. The Old Testament gives many scripture verses for the many prophecies about the coming of Jesus, his ministry, and his sacrifice. This is a great tool when sharing with nonbelievers.
There are colorful charts and sidebar notes. Photographs of Jerusalem and paintings by famous masters are sprinkled throughout 160 pages. The miracles of Jesus give biblical references from the different Gospels. The page showing Jesus' mission step-by-step is very useful. Special emphasis is given to Jesus' final week on earth. Three pages share the prophecies and scripture reference in the Old Testament and the New Testament. This is a very good resource for Bible study teachers of the gospels. Colorful map with great details is included.
Chapter 3 Harmony of the Gospels will probably be the most useful chapter. I have a separate book. There are numerous charts about the events in Jesus' three years of ministry. Parables and Miracles list the reference in each of the gospels.

Chapter 4 is the Who’s Who in the gospels listing of 67 characters in alphabetical order beginning with Andrew pg. 74 and ending with Zachariah.pg 93. A brief paragraph in the biblical reference highlights each character.
Chapter 5 Understanding the World of Jesus gives the historical background of the empires, dynasties, and rulers before and during Jesus' time. An additional bonus was the inclusion of the Maccabees. Also included in this chapter mentions the importance of the religious leaders in the world of Jesus, as well as a chart showing the major differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

Ch 6 Evidence of the resurrection shares seven objections nonbelievers have about the resurrection and very thorough answers for each one. There are four theories along with an explanation of why the theories are not true. This chapter includes an extensive page of references. I have several references for this information, but it is nice to have a compact inclusive resource.
Ch 7 How We Got the Gospels was very informative and detailed. It is very detailed and discusses oral traditions, and testimonies; scrolls and original manuscripts. This chapter covers the canonization of the gospels. Most impressive are five pages of references. The details in this chapter are concise and I appreciate not having to dig through my other resources for this info. This will definitely be one of my favorite resources. The pdf allows me ready access using the search and find features on my computer.
Hendrickson Publishing and Rose publication provided a pdf file of this resource for a fair and honest review.side by side charts and overview.

Conquering Fear: 52-Week Devotional

Conquering Fear: 52-Week Devotional This 320-page book covers 52 Weeks of devotions for youth ten to twelve. The Super Hero theme will be entertaining for students with speech bubbles and cartoon words bubbles. Each week provides an short story that illustrates a possible event or crisis typical in the life of a modern youth. At the bottom of this page is a "Fear Buster" that shares a biblical truth that will encourage students and can easily be understood. A short scripture accompanied by a biblical scene taken from Jesus' life on earth is followed by a "Prayer Prompt," suggesting how a student could pray in a given situation. There is often a place to write their thoughts or a place to illustate scenes. Acostic puzzles, Word Finds, mazes, and matching games liven up the devotion while teaching Biblical principals. One activity I really enjoyed was the garbage can illustrating the scripture in Ephesians 4:22-23. Discussing cleaning up their room and deciding what needs to go in the trash. The page ask readers to choose from the word bank habits or attitudes they need to get rid of in their life.

 

My grandson just turned 12 and he is in his second year of middle school. The text of the stories and writing assignments are appropriate for ages 10-12. However some of the activities seem kind of young for middle schoolers. The photos of the children on the pages seem way younger then the targeted age. If I had a suggestion for improvement, it would be to use preteens in the photos. Not many middle school kids wear superhero capes.

This pdf was given to me for a review of the material by Hendrickson Publishers and Rose Publishing.