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    Surprised by Hope Bible Study Participant's Guide: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
    Surprised by Hope Bible Study Participant's Guide: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
    Surprised by Hope Bible Study Participant's Guide: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
    Ebook64 pages1 hour

    Surprised by Hope Bible Study Participant's Guide: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

    By N. T. Wright, Kevin G. Harney and Sherry Harney

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    About this ebook

    Many Christians believe our future in heaven is all that really matters. But that's not what the Bible teaches. In this six-session small group Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), premier Bible scholar N. T. Wright brings you inside the Scriptures to grasp the full, breathtaking hope Jesus offers the world, and its impact on your life today.

    Gain an exciting new vision for your life on earth in light of your future in heaven. Wonderful as is the promise of heaven, a glorious hereafter is just part of what salvation is about.

    What about today? Jesus called his followers the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Your life here and now is of tremendous consequence, and what you believe about the future has a direct impact on how you live in the present.

    In six transforming, faith-inspiring sessions, premiere biblical scholar N. T. Wright opens your eyes to the amazing full scope of what God's Word has to say about the world to come and the world that is.

    Filled with discussion questions, thoughts for reflection, and ideas for personal application, this study guide will help you get the most out of each session as you explore such questions as What is heaven really like? Is our main duty as Christians simply to help non-Christians get there? What hope does the gospel hold for this present life? In what ways does God intend for us to experience that hope personally and spread its healing power to the world around us?

    Surprised by Hope provides a clearer vision both of the future and of God's kingdom at hand today.

    This study provides individual and group activities, additional background material, and between-session personal studies that will enhance your experience of the video sessions.

    Sessions include:

    1. Hope for the World
    2. The Hope of the Resurrection
    3. The Hope of Heaven
    4. The Hope of Jesus’ Second Coming
    5. The Hope of Salvation
    6. The Hope of the Church

    Designed for use with the Surprised by Hope Video Study (sold separately).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateMay 22, 2013
    ISBN9780310692140
    Surprised by Hope Bible Study Participant's Guide: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
    Author

    N. T. Wright

    N. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world’s leading Bible scholars. He serves as the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews as well as Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. He has been featured on ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air. Wright is the award-winning author of many books, including Paul: A Biography, Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, The Day the Revolution Began, Simply Jesus, After You Believe, and Scripture and the Authority of God.

    Read more from N. T. Wright

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      Book preview

      Surprised by Hope Bible Study Participant's Guide - N. T. Wright

      EBOOK INSTRUCTIONS

      In this ebook edition, please use your device’s note-taking function to record your thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes] or [Your Response]. Use your device’s highlighting function to record your response whenever you are asked to checkmark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your answer(s).

      Session One

      HOPE FOR THE WORLD

      God wants his people to experience hope and to share it with the world. Hope that has world transforming power is more than just anticipation of what God will do in the future. It is the coming of God’s kingdom here on earth … today.

      INTRODUCTION

      This video study series, based on N. T. Wright’s book of the same name, invites us to look closer and think deeper. Wright has a beautiful way of pointing to the familiar and helping us see things we never noticed before.

      There are words in the Christian vocabulary that can feel familiar, almost a bit worn. Words like heaven, resurrection, salvation, and the church should stir our imagination and cause our heart to race, but often they can feel mundane.

      In these six sessions you will be invited to take a fresh new look at the theological landscape of the Christian faith. N. T. Wright will be your tour guide. Along the way those familiar landmarks, locations, and ideas will begin to take on new meaning that will do more than stir your heart … they will transform your life!

      The first destination on this journey is the place where the Christian hope is born. What is the source of our hope? Can the hope found in Jesus really transform our lives and the world in which we live? And, how can those who follow Christ bring his light to a hope-starved world?

      God’s kingdom in the preaching of Jesus refers not to postmortem destiny, not to our escape from this world into another one, but to God’s sovereign rule coming on earth as it is in heaven.

      TALK ABOUT IT

      How might living with the assurance and hope of heaven, and having confidence in the resurrection, move us to action and bring hope right where we live today?

      [Your Response]

      What we say about death and resurrection gives shape and color to everything else. If we are not careful, we will offer merely a hope that is no longer a surprise, no longer able to transform lives and communities in the present, no longer generated by the resurrection of Jesus himself and looking forward to the promised new heavens and new earth.

      VIDEO TEACHING NOTES

      As you watch the video teaching segment for session one, featuring N. T. Wright, use the following outline to record anything that stands out to you.

      People all around of the world are asking, Is there any hope? and they do so with good reason! Two particular ways that people can go astray:

      •  The secret code approach

      [Your Notes]

      • The escape the world approach

      [Your Notes]

      The biblical vision for this world and the future

      [Your Notes]

      What the Bible means and does not mean when it talks about judging the world

      [Your Notes]

      The Gospels and Jesus’ teaching about hope and God’s kingdom

      [Your Notes]

      The conflict between the message of God’s kingdom coming and the presiding powers of Jesus’ day (religious and

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