Welcome to the first issue of The Friday Briefing. The aim of this new weekly briefing is to introduce a wide range of books, articles, and audio and video resources helpful for studying the Bible, for Biblical thinking and understanding, and for Christian discipleship. It will also include quotations that I’ve found thought-provoking and significant. There’ll also be alerts to material uploaded on this site.
I hope that some of the resources highlighted in this briefing will prove helpful. Paul prayed for the church in Colossae: “that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, . . . .” (Colossians 1.9-12). That is my own prayer, too.
”All the Law and the Prophets…” in a piece of fruit
What Tolkien did so well, what we do so poorly
Why you want [adult] Sunday school
Book review – Bound Together by Chris Brauns
Creation Sings, a hymn by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend
“All the Law and the Prophets…” in a piece of fruit
Jared Totten writes, “We’re all familiar with the story. In fact, if you grew up in the church, you’re probably so familiar with the story that there’s no surprise, no suspense left in it. But Genesis 3 is an epic drama. The fate of the entire human race hanging in the balance as good and evil are paraded across this cosmic stage. . . . . And at the center of it all: fruit. Yep, skin and pulp and juice. . . . . “What’s the big deal with the fruit?!!”
Read the whole article HERE
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Alastair Roberts (who is always worth reading) finds New Exodus themes in Luke’s Gospel chapter 9. He writes, “In my church’s midweek Bible study groups last night, we were going through Luke 9:10-50. It struck me that there are a number of interesting potential Exodus themes in there. Here are a few that jumped out at me. . . . .”
In a reply to a comment on his post, Dr. Roberts writes: “The accounts of Jesus’ ministry are not just collections of various miracle, teaching, and healing stories, but are unified narratives driving in a specific direction. Recognizing Exodus and other patterns helps us to relate various individual gospel narratives to a single Gospel Narrative and, beyond that, to see an underlying unity in the entire biblical story, something that I am trying to show in my 40 Days of Exodus series. When Jesus models his ministry after that of Moses, or Elijah and Elisha (for instance, compare Luke 4:4-24-27 and Luke 7:1-17), we can have a sense of where things are going, of the meaning of his actions, and of Jesus’ perception of his mission. When related to the larger framework, certain events take on a new significance. For instance, the feeding of the four thousand might seem superfluous, merely repeating an earlier miracle on a smaller scale. However, once we recognize the underlying patterns and relations, it becomes a very important event in its own right, not a mere unnecessary repetition. With this approach, we can recognize that Jesus’ life and ministry serves a salvation purpose, not merely his death and resurrection.”
Read the whole article HERE
The Exodus is a foundational theme in the Bible. God delivered His people Israel from Egypt through an Exodus. Jesus, too, saves people through a new Exodus. This new Exodus is prophesied in a number of places (for example Isaiah 11.10-16 and Isaiah 43.14-21). God was going to rescue people from a slavemaster far worse than the Egyptians. He was going to rescue them from bondage to sin and Satan. That Exodus would be accomplished by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Messiah would deliver people from sin and Satan through His death, resurrection and ascension to His Father in heaven. Click HERE for an outline study that compares the first Exodus from Egypt and the second and greater Exodus that Jesus the Messiah accomplished.
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What Tolkien did so well, what we do so poorly.
Tim Challies writes, “Over the past few weeks I have been reading through The Lord of the Rings, slowly meandering my way through Middle Earth for the umpteenth time. . . . . Tolkien did not simply write a story, he created a world. . . . . One of the great strengths of Tolkien’s work is its grounding in history. One of the great weaknesses of the contemporary church is its detachment from its own history. Few of today’s Christians have a clear sense of how the church came to be. They know of Acts and Reformation and Billy Graham, but the rest is a blur. There are many reasons we ought to teach believers their history.”
Read the whole article HERE
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Why you want [adult] Sunday school
In many American churches, there has been a tradition of teaching adults (as well as children) in Sunday School. This would be in addition to any evening and/or midweek gatherings. In these scenarios, then, an adult would have opportunity for Bible teaching, often in a setting that facilitated group discussion, as well a sermon during the worship time.
But British churches, by and large, do not run adult Sunday school, or regular Bible classes of any kind. Jonathan Pennington writes: “During my graduate studies in Scotland, I noticed that many churches didn’t have Sunday school, and there seemed to be a correlation between the lack of adult Sunday School and the generally lower biblical literacy among the congregation. I’m sure that there are other factors involved, and that there are many churches in the United Kingdom that are exemplary in both biblical literacy and adult education. But the experience . . . cast the value of Sunday school in a new light.”
They comment: “If you don’t have Sunday school, where are you going to teach people how to study the Bible? Where are you going to give them a thorough grounding in systematic theology? Where are you going to discuss the ins and outs of parenting, or dating and marriage, or evangelism? I’m afraid that when churches abandon Sunday school, some of these things are simply no longer being taught to the congregation as a whole. And churches are thereby missing a significant opportunity to equip their people with biblical building blocks for faithful discipleship.”
Read the whole article HERE
The magazine in which this article was published contains a number of articles about adult Sunday school. Read them all HERE
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Book review – Bound Together by Chris Brauns
I’ve recently added a review of this book HERE. Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California writes: “In Bound Together, Chris Brauns cleverly unpacks two key theological concepts—union with Christ, and original sin—and manages to explain them in a way that any reader can understand. Highly recommended.”
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Creation Sings – sung by Stuart Townend; words and music by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend
I love this hymn!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers. © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Creation to New Creation - a Bible Overview 