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Harvest House Publishers, Inc. - Josh Mcdowell

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See it. Study it. Do it. Many Christians focus on mechanical application of the Scriptures. In Experience Your Bible, the McDowells proclaim God's original design--the Scriptures are his way to reveal himself so he can enjoy a relationship with people.The authors show how the Bible can radically transform believers' lives:Intimacy. God created humans such that an intimate relationship with him is their only route to meaningful life. His written Word enables this relationship.Relational experience. We must obey God's commands. Yet he also wants us to relationally experience things like acceptance, joy, and comfort with him and other believers.Growth in love. Josh and Sean highlight the Holy Spirit's role in illuminating the Scriptures. They present proven tools to help readers study and "accurately handle the word of truth." Above all, they emphasize that study is the journey to help Christians more deeply love the author of the Bible, God himself.When Christians experience the Bible and its author, they find wisdom, meaning, and fulfillment in life. A key tool for pastors, leaders, parents, and youth workers--anyone wanting to proclaim and experience the life- and culture-changing Christianity the Bible reveals.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 février 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736941334
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0646€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Experience
Your Bible
JOSH McDOWELL
SEAN McDOWELL

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the second edition of the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NLT are taken from first edition of the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Verses marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, all emphasis (italics) in Scripture quotations has been added by the authors.
Cover by Koechel Peterson Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cover photo Koechel Peterson Associates, Inc .
EXPERIENCE YOUR BIBLE
Copyright 2012 by Josh McDowell Ministry and Sean McDowell
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McDowell, Josh.
Experience your Bible / Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-7369-2873-1 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-4133-4 (eBook)
1.Bible-Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. McDowell, Sean. II. Title.
BS511.3.M337 2012
220.6 1-dc23
2011022066
All rights reserved . No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 / LB-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Dr. Robert Saucy of Talbot Theological Seminary
Thank you for giving us a love for the Scriptures, for teaching us how to understand the Bible, and for personally pouring yourself into each of our lives.
Acknowledgments
We wish to recognize the following individuals for their valuable contribution to this book.
Dave Bellis, my (Josh s) friend and colleague for 35 years, for collaborating with us on the outline of the book, writing the first draft, and rewriting and doing the overall shaping of this work into its final form. In many respects, we consider Dave a third author and are deeply grateful for his contribution.
Dr. David Ferguson, for his insights and ministry in our own lives, especially in regard to his focus on relational theology and experiencing the Bible. David s ministry through the Great Commandment Network has impacted many lives through his sermons and printed material, and his ministry impact is reflected in the many pages of this book.
Dr. Richard Fisher, for critiquing the manuscript and providing a wealth of biblical knowledge and insights into interpreting Scripture.
The Niemi small group for providing helpful input and guidance to the book manuscript as they used the material for their group study. Also to Mark and Marcie Niemi, Kathryn and Andy Milligan, and Laura Fahringer for reviewing the manuscript and providing insights that helped us make the book more clear and easier to understand.
Tom Williams, for editing the manuscript, to which he applied his valuable wordsmithing skills and passionate heart to make words come alive on a printed page.
Becky Bellis, for laboring long and hard at the computer to ready the manuscript.
Dave Bellis II, for his insights into the book of Hosea and the added passion he brought to this work in pursuing God s Word with a heart of relational discovery.
Terry Glaspey of Harvest House, for his analytical skills and structural understanding of what makes for a compelling book, and for sharing them to help form the direction of this book.
Paul Gossard of Harvest House, for the expert editing and insight he brought to the manuscript completion.
Bob Hawkins Jr. and the Harvest House Publishers team, who caught the vision of experiencing your Bible and labored with us to bring this book to reality.
Josh McDowell
Sean McDowell
Contents
Acknowledgments
C HAPTER 1 : The Bible: Mysterious and Hard to Understand?
PART ONE
WAYS THE BIBLE IS EXPERIENCED
C HAPTER 2 : The Forgotten Purpose of Scripture
C HAPTER 3 : Opening the Eyes of Our Hearts
C HAPTER 4 : Experiencing Jesus in Scripture
C HAPTER 5 : Experiencing Scripture with Others
C HAPTER 6 : The Key to Discovering the Truth
PART TWO
HOW TO EXPERIENCE THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF
C HAPTER 7 : Interpretation: Understanding the Intended Meaning
C HAPTER 8 : Tools of Interpretation
C HAPTER 9 : Sharing Your Insights with Others
C HAPTER 10 : Go and Learn the Meaning of This Scripture
C HAPTER 11 : Placing Yourself Within the Big Picture of Scripture
C HAPTER 12 : Why You Can Trust the Bible
A Final Word
Additional Resources
The Paraphrase
The Topical Study
The Biographical Study
Reference Chart for a Crisis Bible Study
Notes
About the Authors and the Josh McDowell Ministry
More Resources from Josh and Sean McDowell
Take the Complete Unshakable Truth Journey!
Other Harvest House Resources to Help You Experience the Truth
About the Publisher
Chapter 1
The Bible: Mysterious and Hard to Understand?
I love the Bible and I believe it is God s Word, but to be honest I don t understand a lot of what it means.
I feel guilty for not reading the Bible more, but the reality is the Bible is somewhat confusing to me, and a lot of it just doesn t relate.
T he above comments represent the thinking of many Christians today. Let s face it-the Bible isn t always an easy read. To a large number of believers many of the 66 books of the Old and New Testament are complex and a little intimidating. This is not surprising, because most of the original Scripture came out of times and cultures vastly different from ours. The Bible was written over 2000 years ago through more than 40 generations by more than 40 different authors from every walk of life. It was penned on the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. So it is little wonder that we can feel a little confused by the language and culture of Bible times. Even when Jesus walked the earth, his disciples, who lived in the same society he did, struggled to understand the meaning and relevance of some Scriptures written long before their own time and culture. Let s look briefly at one example of this confusion.
MAKING THE UNCLEAR, CLEAR
It had been an emotional and confusing day. As the two disciples walked the seven miles from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, they tried to sort things out. They thought Jesus had come as their Messiah to rescue Israel from the oppression of the Romans. Those hopes were dashed, of course, when he had been taken by the Romans and crucified.
It was confusing enough to think that your Messiah was going to deliver you and then watch as he gave himself up to be crucified. Now even more confusing were the reports that had been circulating all morning. The women who had gone to Jesus tomb had found the stone rolled away and his body gone. They said angel-like men had told them Jesus had risen from the dead. Peter had gone to check their story out and confirmed that the tomb was empty. What were they to make of all this?
As they walked and talked a stranger joined them. After listening to what they were saying, he asked, What are you two talking about? Amazed, one of them, Cleopas, retorted, You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn t heard about all these things. The stranger asked, What things?
The two then told their new uninformed friend about Jesus-his life, death, and reported resurrection. At that point the stranger began to explain everything the Scripture said and meant about this man called Jesus, the true Messiah.
When they arrived at their destination the two invited their friend to join them for supper and stay the night. When this stranger broke bread, blessed it, and began giving it to them, their eyes and hearts were opened. Astonished, they recognized this stranger as none other than Jesus-their resurrected Lord. And then he vanished before their very eyes. They asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32 NIV ).
The Scriptures Jesus quoted to his two followers on the road to Emmaus were not new. Those disciples had heard those passages many times before, yet they had missed their true meaning and relevance. But this time when Jesus opened the Scriptures to them, their hearts were opened with new insight and relevance. Isn t that what we all long for-a time when the meaning of God s Word becomes so clear that it meets our needs, gives direction to our life, and provides practical insight for living?
God meant his Book to be your personal journey to discover how you were meant to live and enjoy life to the fullest.
Here s a valid question: Why would God give us a book with all its promised wisdom and understanding of life and make it difficult to comprehend? If the Bible has relevant truth, why is it so hard to extract its relevance to our lives? Some conclude that the Book is a theological treatise written for