The Briefing #351—December, 2007

Couldn't Help Noticing

• Thanklessness and thankfulness
• When it's just not working
• Sometimes answering back does no good
• Christmas books for children

• WordWatch: Incarnate—Kel Richards gets into the meat of this doctrine.

Bookshelf

• A Clear and Present Word—Gordon Cheng explains why Mark Thompson thinks we can know God through his word.

Resource talk

• Giving ourselves—Tony Payne reflects on giving away his most precious possession this Christmas.

Suffering

• What Job and Jesus teach us about suffering—Rob Smith shares some lessons he's gleaned from the Bible.
• The perfect gift of right now—Eddie Larkman shows us that how we suffer depends entirely on us.

Ethics

• The mystery of our time: An interview with Oliver O'Donovan—Tony Payne speaks to one of the world's leading Christian ethicists about ethics, politics, evangelism, the Bible, and the mystery that is the time we live in.

Pastor's Brief

• What hearers want—Jon Guyer helps preachers listen in to what their congregation is thinking.

Bible Brief

• 1 Kings 1-11— 20 daily Bible readings by Jason Ramsay.

Epilogue

• Poems—David Hastie reminds those of us who suffer to take refuge in Jesus, the Lord of all.