The Adventure to Know Jesus and be Transformed by Truth

by NRJohnson

In this new and fresh guide to Bible study, you will receive a simple and clear path that will help you know how to study God’s Word and discover the proper posture and motivation to do so.

“The reason you hold this book in your hand right now is likely because you, too, desire to be one of the few in this generation that genuinely and passionately pursues the Person of Jesus Christ through the pages of Scripture. I can think of no better way to begin that epic journey than by reading this book.”

– Eric Ludy, bestselling author and international speaker

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“The [Bible] became more than academic writings; the voice of Jesus sounded in my heart through the Scriptures. . . . I want this for you as well. May this book on Saturation Bible Study open up for you a greater intimacy with Jesus through His Word.”

– Dr. Stephen Manley, itinerant evangelist and author

Chapter One

The Adventure of a Lifetime

The invitation to a journey guaranteed to change your life

The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts. I solemnly state this from the experience of 54 years. The first three years after conversion I neglected the word of God. Since I began to search it diligently the blessing has been wonderful. Great has been the blessing from consecutive, diligent, daily study. I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the word of God.

– George Müller

Welcome to the adventure of a lifetime!

When you begin an adventure, you hazard unknown difficulties and dare to laugh in the face of danger … all the while knowing the reward is well worth the risk.

Some people seek adventure by climbing Everest or jumping from a plane. Others paddle down class five rapids or take an arctic plunge in mid-January. Some take an ancient ring and travel across dangerous lands to throw it into a volcano, while others just want to read about it.

Yet all these adventures fall short of the greatest adventure of all time—knowing the God of the Universe.

Missionary and martyr Jim Elliot once said, “Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth!”**

Nothing compares to actually knowing God Almighty. Many of us know facts, details, and information about Him, but too few of us truly know Him.

This book is an invitation (and practical guide) to know the Living God through His Word. The goal isn’t to gain more information but to grow in intimacy.

An Invitation to Intimacy

Perhaps like no other time in history, humans today have more competition for their time, attention, and affection. Our focus is lured away like a kid in a candy store from the source of life—God Himself.

This has been the ploy of the enemy from the beginning. In Eden, the serpent enticed Eve to turn her trust and focus from God toward herself. By eating the forbidden fruit, she declared she wanted to be the judge between good and evil. She wanted to be independent of God. Her gaze turned from the Creator to the creation. Humanity sinned and lost its intimacy with God. Yet God relentlessly pursued His people.

Throughout Scripture, God beckons His bride to “repent” and “return.” He longs for us to leave our idolatrous affair with the world and pursue Him alone. He wants relationship with us, offering us everything we need for life and godliness (see 2 Peter 1:3). Yet we are a distracted people, often wanting God to be an “add-on” to our lives rather than be at the center.

Yet our heart’s longing is for Him. The cry within our soul tells us there is more to be discovered in Christ—more joy, more peace, more victory, more hope, more life, and more intimacy. As such, we have a nagging sense that we should spend more time in His Word and prayer. But we tell ourselves we are either too busy or don’t know how.

I grew up in church. Week after week, I heard how important the Bible was to the Christian life, but the problem was no one taught me how to study it.

I read the Bible a few times during my teen years, hoping it would suffice. I asked people around me how they studied, but it was little more than reading. I read a couple of books on the topic. But sadly, my time in Scripture became a duty, an obligation to prove my spirituality.

I didn’t delight in God’s Word. I mainly wanted to check it off my to-do list; I did it because I was supposed to.

Can you relate?

At age 22, I spent my summer traveling with an itinerant evangelist named Stephen Manley, who later became a dear friend and mentor. During the first week, Stephen sat me down and told me something which caused a dramatic shift in my engagement with God’s Word—something that has never allowed me to remain the same. He simply said:

“Reading and studying the Bible shouldn’t be for academic study, but for intimacy.”

Up till then, I had come to the Bible for many reasons: for devotions, leisure reading, to prove someone wrong, for homework, and to academically know what it means. But in the end, I had missed the true purpose of Bible reading and study.

That summer, I began to shift the focus of why I spent time in Scripture, and everything in my life began to change. Seriously, I do mean everything.

• I began to experience an intimacy and oneness with Jesus I didn’t know was possible.
• I started to gain victory over sin.
• My relationships with others improved.
• I had a deep passion to pour my life out and serve the Lord.
• The fruit of the Spirit began to grow in my life—for the first time, I began to walk in an increasing reality of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, as Galatians 5:22–23 talks about.

My world turned upside-down. So much so, at the end of the summer, I told Stephen I was frustrated with him because he “ruined my life.” I would never be able to be the same again. I was ruined; in the best possible way.

I look back over the last two decades and I am baffled at the amazing transformation God has done in my life. What began as an invitation to know and experience God through His Word has become one of the most exciting things in my life. Not only did I discover how the Christian life actually works, but Jesus, through His Word, has radically changed every aspect of my life—spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, and relational.

I can boldly proclaim with Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus—the old has passed away, behold the new has come!

What caused the dramatic change in my life? It was the transforming work of Christ as I drew in intimacy with Him through His Word.

Stephen taught me the importance of “why” I should study Scripture (intimacy with Jesus) and introduced me to the concept of Saturation—which has forever changed how I approach God’s Word.

For the past two decades, I have taught thousands of other believers Saturation Bible Study and have seen countless lives transformed by the truth of Scripture. And I want you to experience the same freedom, life, and transformation.

So I invite you on a journey, an adventure guaranteed to change your life. We may not climb Everest or raft down a treacherous river together, but this adventure will be more breathtaking, exhilarating, and certainly far more fun.

The men that have been the most heroic for God have had the greatest devotional lives. – Leonard Ravenhill

I want to guide you down a path that will set you free to read and study the Bible with greater joy, passion, and understanding. An adventure to know Jesus and be transformed by truth.

Let’s dive in!

FOOTNOTES
** Elisabeth Elliott, ed., The Journals of Jim Elliot (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1978), p. 309.