An Antidote to "Take Two Verses and Call Me in the Morning"
Your friend just left his wife. You catch your child posting something inappropriate on the Internet. Someone in your small group is depressed. A relative was just diagnosed with an incurable disease. When those you know and love experience trouble, you don't want to hand out pat answers or religious platitudes. Instead, you want to offer real hope and help from God's Word. You know it's true, but how does an ancient book, written thousands of years ago, connect with our twenty-first century problems?
In CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet, Michael R. Emlet gives you the tools to connect the Bible to your life and to the lives of your family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. You will learn to understand people and God's Word in ways that promote gospel-centered, rich conversations that help you and those you know grow in love for God and others. This book will make the whole Bible come alive to you. Instead of platitudes, you can offer a cup of living water to those who are struggling in this broken world.
Michael R. Emlet, M.Div., M.D., practiced as a family physician for twelve years before becoming a counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). He is the author of the book CrossTalk: Where Life & Scripture Meet, the minibooks Asperger Syndrome; Chronic Pain; Angry Children: Understanding and Helping Your Child Regain Control; Help for the Caregiver: Facing the Challenges with Understanding and Strength; and OCD: Freedom for the Obsessive Compulsive, and many counseling articles.
Michael Emlet has written a readable and insightful guide on how to move from the ancient text to our present situation. This book is especially important for counselors, pastors, and seminarians, but all thoughtful Christians will benefit from reading it. ~Tremper Longman III, Ph.D. Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College and Author of Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind
Are you, like me, unsatisfied with your ability to link passages to problems or people? With poignant insights shaped by years of teaching and counseling, Mike Emlet helps us connect the dots between Scripture and permanent change. If you hunger to apply the Bible to life, or to help other people gain an appetite, then feast on this book! ~Dave Harvey, D.Min. Sovereign Grace Ministries and Author of When Sinners Say ¿I Do¿
In CrossTalk, Mike Emlet is serious about applying all of Scripture to all of life. Mike teaches us how to weave together the story line of Scripture with our own stories. And Mike gets the story right. It is a gospel story. Mike¿s passion for the immediacy and centrality of the gospel story comes through on every page. ~Paul Miller Author of Love Walked Among Us and A Praying Life
CrossTalk combines the best of Bible study methods, theology, and counseling to help the sufferer, the sinner, and the saint be radically transformed by Jesus. ~Mark Driscoll Pastor of Mars Hill Church, President of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, President of Resurgence and Author of Death by Love
Many authors can tell you what the Bible is, and how to read it. Many others can offer wisdom to face life¿s problems. Few can do both. Mike Emlet wonderfully bridges the two worlds. CrossTalk not only gives us numerous examples of applying the Scriptures to daily life, but models how to go about it on our own. This book is a marvelous resource for anyone who wants to know how to navigate the often-troubled waters of personal experience. It is well-suited for lay people and professional ministers alike. ~William Edgar, Dr.Théol. Professor of Apologetics, Westminster Theological Seminary and author of Truth in All Its Glory
This is simply the best book about the nature and function of the Bible that I have ever read! It is outstanding in describing the overall narrative of Scripture and in insisting that the individual "bits" of the Bible are read in the context of that "big picture." It is outstanding in applying that same technique to people¿s lives. It is outstanding in the number of concrete examples he uses to illustrate his points. And it is outstanding most of all because it, like the Bible, clearly points to Jesus. Dr. Emlet has written a superb book, which anyone who wants to understand and apply the Bible really MUST read! ~Samuel T. Logan, Jr., Ph.D. Author, Theologian, and International Director of the World Reformed Fellowship
