Hi, friends. I am Annie F. Downs. Let's read the Gospels. The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

These are the stories of Jesus Christ's life on earth, the friendships, the parables, the sacrifices, the meals, the miracles.

Here at the beginning of the month, I just want to say welcome. If you're new with us in August, we are so glad you're here.

Each month, we read all four books about three chapters a day. So go ahead, subscribe today. Join us as we read the Gospels together.

We're just making a 30-day commitment to this rhythm for this month. I can't wait to see how we are changed by the time September rolls around.

We've got two resources available for you besides the daily podcast. One is the August reading plan that outlines what we're reading each day, and the other is the Let's Read the Gospels guidebook.

It has some extras in it. Notes for me, journal prompts, some questions. It all just takes this experience a little deeper, and we release new pages each month.

So when you purchase the August guidebook, you're going to get a lot of stuff. You'll get all the PDFs from all the previous months, and you're also going to get the pages for the rest of the year as they're released.

You can find those at anyfdowns.com slash Gospels. So here's how this works. I'm going to read three chapters to you today.

You can listen or read along in your own Bible, and then I'll pray, and that's it. So today is August 2nd day too, and I'll be reading Matthew chapters four through six.

And this month, I'm reading from the message.

Matthew four.

Next, Jesus was taken into the wild by the spirit for the test. The devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the test by fasting 40 days and 49s.

That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the devil took advantage of in the first test.

Since you are God's son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread. Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy.

It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth.

For the second test, the devil took him to the holy city. He sat him on top of the temple and said, since you are God's son, jump.

The devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91. He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone.

Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy. Don't you dare test the Lord your God.

For the third test, the devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were.

Then he said, yours, lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me and their yours.

Jesus' refusal was curt. Beat it, Satan. He backed his rebute with third quotation from Deuteronomy.

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