Dr. Bryan Litfin :: Stories of Wisdom from the Early Church, the Spreading of the Gospel, and What We Can Learn from Them Today
As we walk into the days that follow Easter, we have such a unique opportunity to engage the truly incredible work Jesus not only did on the cross and walking out of the empty tomb, and how the world was literally turned upside down in the remaining days He was on Earth and after His ascension to Heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit and the call to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.
This is Dr. Bryan Litfin’s area of expertise. We’ve had a chance to talk about Dr. Litfin’s works of fiction on the podcast before, where he shares a story of an early Christian woman and a young warrior in Constantine’s army and how the trials of the time and their faiths are tested and proved, but today, we’re going to put all his various degrees to work as he shares with us about his newest non-fiction book Wisdom of the Ancients: 30 Timeless Lessons from the Early Church. Dr. Litfin is a Professor at Liberty University teaching theology and New Testament classes, and a former professor at Moody Bible Institute, and as we walk into this season that celebrates the birth of the early church, this conversation with Dr. Litfin is the perfect place to spend time.
Dr. Litfin walks us through the context of what he means by “the ancient period,” which his latest book focuses on and he defines it as within the time of Christ on earth in the 1st century through the 500 years or so that would follow leading up to the Middle Ages. For a lot of western Christians in particular, we sometimes grapple with the context of the early church and get confused about what happened when, how decisions were made, and we tend to skip from the end of Revelation to the Reformation or something like that. Dr. Litfin gives us a picture of what the world looked like as the Gospel spread. Then, he shares from his latest book some specific and perhaps surprising lessons we can consider and adapt to our modern faith walks and churches, and it is truly fascinating.
Jesus is alive, He came that we would have life to the full, not always easy, but full and never alone. His passion for His family has not changed, and I pray that ministers to you today.
Connecting with Dr. Litfin:
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References:
-Episode 69 and Episode 116 The other episodes featuring Dr. Litfin on the podcast
-Dr. Litfin’s fiction trilogy: Constantine’s Empire
-His latest work: Wisdom of the Ancients: 30 Timeless Lessons from the Early Church
-(Just being honest) the yuck from the top, but isn’t the heart of the university
-A glimpse into Paul’s missionary journeys
-Paul’s missionary journeys (geographically and timeline)
-Saint Patrick and the spreading of the Gospel to Ireland
-Over the powers and principalities
-Dr. Michael Heiser’s documentary about spiritual dominion and a deep dive into this
-Also see his book Supernatural, and Unseen Realm and he has since passed away, but our conversation on the podcast was mindblowing.
-witness means martyr in Greek
-Necropolis —> a cemetery (this was interesting, pardon the language)
-Christocentric and Christotelic
-Episode of “The Chosen” showing the raised up snake on a pole (Season 1, episode 7)
-Nicodemus’ struggle on “The Chosen (Season 1, episode 7 also lol)
-Getting to Know the Church Fathers
-Early Christian Martyr Stories
Scripture References:
Mark 16:15- Go and share the Gospel with all the world
Acts 1:6-11- Jesus’ ascension
Book of Acts (a lot of Paul’s missionary journeys)
Acts 1:8-The outermost parts of the Earth
Hebrews 13:8-Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever
Deuteronomy 10:17, 1 Chronicles 16:26, Psalm 97:7, Psalm 96:5- God is the god of gods
John 14:6-Jesus is the way the truth and the life
Ephesians 3:1-6-Paul calls the Gospel a mystery
1 Peter 1:12-even the angels marveled at the mystery
John 12:24-Jesus said unless a seed falls and dies it cannot grow
1 Corinthians 15:52-a trumpet will sound
Matthew 27:55-61,Mark 15:40,Mark 15:47,Mark 16:1,Luke 24:10,Luke 23:49-56, Luke 8:43-48, Luke 8:1-3, John 8:1-11-Jesus mingled with women (those who followed Him and provided for Him), touched them (Bleeding Woman), and gave love to them (Mary Magdelene, woman caught in adultery)
Luke 1:39-45-Jesus revealed Himself first to Mary and Elizabeth
John 20:11-18-Jesus revealed Himself as a risen Savior first to a woman
2 Corinthians 3:4–6-The letter kills, the Spirit gives life
Luke 24:13-35-Jesus and His followers on the road to Emmaus
Genesis 22-Isaac and Abraham
Hebrews 11:17-19-the book of Hebrews points out Isaac is a type of Christ
Numbers 21:4-9-Moses and Aaron put snake on a pole to save Israel
John 3-Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night
Hebrews 4:12-The Bible is alive and active
Exodus 12-Passover
Matthew 26:17-30,Mark 14:12-26,Luke 22:7-23,John 13:1-35-Jesus’ last supper
Ecclesiastes 2:25-A time for fasting and a time feasting
John 15:5-Apart from Jesus we can do nothing
John 14:18-He will not leave us as orphans
Hebrews 12:2-We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses
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