McDowell Josh - Experience Your Bible Go Beyond Mere Study

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 VersionNIV. 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.BibleCriticism, interpretation, etc. I. McDowell, Sean. II. Title.

BS511.3.M337 2012

220.61dc23

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 meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept 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.

We wish to recognize the following individuals for their valuable contribution to this book.

Dave Bellis, my (Joshs) 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. Davids 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 Gods 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

I love the Bible and I believe it is Gods Word, but to
be honest I dont 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 doesnt relate.

T he above comments represent the thinking of many Christians today. Lets face itthe Bible isnt 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. Lets look briefly at one example of this confusion.

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 hasnt heard about all these things. The stranger asked, What things?

The two then told their new uninformed friend about Jesushis 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 Jesustheir 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 ).