Remember and Rehearse: An Invitation to Participate in God's Story

by J.T. English

Stories are powerful. Few things on earth rival the power of stories. Humans are captured by stories, we are entertained by stories, and we live in stories. But it's not enough to simply recognize that stories are powerful. We have to recognize that the power of stories can orient us to what is true, good and beautiful. And if they have this power, they also have the power to disorient us from what is true, good and beautiful. It all depends on the story itself.

There is one true story that you are invited to live in—the story of the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible is one true story that invites us to know and love God. But you can't live in a story you don't know. Remember and Rehearse will help readers understand the whole story of Scripture. Knowing the true, good story of God combats the false stories the world tells. Through the big movements of creation, fall, the covenants, Christ, the Spirit and the Church, and the Kingdom without end, readers will discover the unfolding drama of God's Kingdom coming to earth and how each of us are invited to be participants.

In this book, you’ll The false stories the world tells us The true and better story of the complete narrative of Scripture How you are part of that story
We are a forgetful people, but God has given us His Word so that we may remember and rehearse.
 

Genres: Theology, Christian, Nonfiction, Faith, Discipleship, Christianity, Church

240 pages, Hardcover

Published May 13, 2025

About the author

J. T. English, PhD, is an author and teacher, and currently serves as the lead pastor of Storyline Fellowship in Arvada, CO. Previously, JT served as a pastor at The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX, where he founded and directed The Village Church Institute, which is committed to theological education in the local church. He received his ThM in Historical Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and PhD in Systematic Theology from Southern Seminary. He is married to Macy English, and they have two children, Thomas and Bailey.

Reviews

[Jennifer Squire]

Really fantastic overview of the Christian story. I think it was written simple enough for high schoolers and/or new believers to engage. I like the bonus of discussion questions and formation exercises to use this is a teaching resource!

[Colter Parker]

I want everyone to read this book - not because it's perfect, but because it provides an introduction to the Kingdom of God as the primary framework for understanding the whole story of scripture.

[Danny Daugherty]

The first third of this book is a five star book- I love the way English explores the idea of every person being a ‘storied creature’, I.e lives within a narrative of what the good life is, where history is going, and how to live towards that end. I also felt like English excelled in describing some of the most prevalent false stories people live in (consumerism, individualism, politicalism, etc) as well as the true story (the Kingdom of God) in a way that was both understandable and helpful.

The last two thirds of this book felt more like a 3.5-4 star book. Still well written and helpful, but less creative and compelling. Some of that might just be due to me reading several other books like this, making the information feel less new or fresh.

Still this is a book that I would highly recommend to someone who doesn’t understand the story of Scripture, but desires to know how to read their Bible. English writes in an extremely accessible way, which makes it easy to recommend.

[James Brixey]

A fantastic Bible overview

the best part was where our author noted that Adam was made of dirt, became flesh but returned to dirt, but Jesus was made of flesh, was put in the dirt and was made flesh again

[teddyreadingstuff]

Again, a good book and true, but just not for me in my current stage of life necessarily!

[Davis Patton]

thought this was an incredibly beneficial book! most of it wasn't particularly new information to me, and yet it was still so helpful to read such an intentional summary of the storyline of the Bible.

super accessible for a book that summarizes the whole Bible with a lot of depth and clarity in around 200 pages. will definitely be recommending this down the road

[Lynna Murray]

A great book reminding us of the overarching story of the Bible and how each of us are called to live out that story. Some thoughts from the book that challenged me:
-How am I cultivating attention to Gods presence in my life?
-To be made in the image of God means to be a reflection of the One we represent.
-The ultimate blessing is not material, it is Gods presence. We don’t just receive things from God, we receive God!
-When people hurt us, we tend to move away from them. Not so with God. He moves toward His people in love.

[Kimberly Turner]

This book helps you remember and rehearse your belief in the gospel. Stories are powerful and each chapter gives you space at the end to answer questions and reflect on your story and the story of the Bible.

R&R takes you from Genesis to Revelation and invites you to know and love God more. Remember and Rehearse will help readers understand the whole story of Scripture.

[Debbie Johnson]

There are only a few books outside of the Bible that have made a huge impact on my walk with Christ. This will be one of them. This book simply explains how I can rewrite my false story by living the true story of Christ.

[Rachelle Cobb]

Solid overview of the storyline of Scripture. I think this book would be especially fruitful for those completing or beginning a Bible-in-a-timeframe plan.

[Charles Hirschy]

This is a book that every Western Christian needs to read. You will find yourself being reminded in each chapter of the one true story that we are invited to participate in, and hopefully find that you are encouraged to embrace more and more the story of the kingdom of God that is to come, and you will want to invite everyone else in because it's just so good!

This would also be a helpful tool for Church leaders to disciple their people.

[Tim Warke]

It's possible to have been a Christian for many years, it's possible to have a really good Bible knowledge, it's possible to think you understand the Bible, yet still not have a good grasp and overview of the true unified narrative that God has blessed us with.

We can think of it as a collection of stories, of Old Testament and New, but do we really know how it all hangs together? Do we realise it is telling one story? The story of the Kingdom of God and God's King.

I have read a few other books that try to give this overview and they were good, but perhaps a little dry. This one is different. I'm not sure why, but as the author leads us through Scripture, the story of the Kingdom, the covenants, I found my heart being stirred, my spirit lifted to worship.

I have never before realised the impact that Matthew 1:1 has. Go and read it now and it may seem like nothing much, like it has to me up to now. But understand the thrust and direction of God's story - and especially how the author summarises it at each point as God's presence, God's people, God's place and God's purpose - and then by the end of the Old Testament - post exile - poor reflection of the temple, and then the silence. Is this kingdom we've read about ever going to be fully established? Will this king ever come? And then we read Matthew 1:1 - and having looked at the Abrahamic covenant, and the Davidic covenant - it hits you - here he is! This is the King! This is the One it has all been about up to this point and will be centred on from now on and forever.

As he writes, "It's not enough to know who Jesus is if you don't know why He came."

And it's all about the King: "We love the kingdom of God, not just because of all the benefits of kingdom citizenship, but because we love the King and we can't wait to see Him face to face."

Amen, come Lord Jesus.

[Kyle Bartsch]

This book is pretty solid in what it sets out to do, which is to name the false narratives that we adopt as story driven people, and to confront them with the truth of God’s overarching story of sin, judgement, forgiveness and salvation. This book achieves this by simply pointing out the 4 P’s of God’s story, (Presence, People, Place, and Purpose) and the thread that ties them all together, that thread being Christ Jesus.

It’s a good book that is really helpful, my only gripe really is that it can seem repetitive and at times redundant. Sometimes it feels like JT is just saying the same thing 4 different ways in one paragraph. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I think he’s using repetition to make his point stick, but because of the repetition some of the points seem bloated, and many of the chapters could be much shorter and easier to read if some of the fat was trimmed up.

Still an excellent resource for those looking to see the full narrative of God’s story for humanity from the very beginning to the very end, or for those looking to confront false narratives that we may be living by without realizing it.

[Leah]

This book is an excellent guide to understanding the grand narrative of the story of scripture in light of God’s kingdom. English traces the themes of God’s presence, people, place, and purpose from Genesis to Revelation in a way that can be committed to memory and used to share the story of the Bible with others. There is good biblical theology at work throughout the book.

The book grabbed me from the beginning as it examined the false stories we live in. Then this continued throughout as the true story of the kingdom was presented with an invitation to live out our place in God’s story.

I particularly appreciated his chapter on the covenant in exile as he traced the theme of exile through scripture and God’s purposes at the end of the OT story.

The greatest highlight for me was the NT section where he described the cross as the enthronement and coronation of the King. Amazing!

[Emma Relei]

The full story of Scripture from Creation, to Fall, to the Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and Exilic covenants, to Christ, to the Holy Spirt and Church, to the final Kingdom. In each part, we see how God’s Kingdom is active through God’s people living in God’s presence for His purposes. It makes me want to more fully live in God’s story. Am I actively living in the presence of God? Am I remembering His faithfulness and rehearsing His promises day to day? Also, I loved seeing God’s faithfulness and connections between all the OT covenants (i.e. God wrote the law to Moses on tablets at Mt. Sinai and the prophet Jeremiah prophesied the new covenant to the people of Judah that the law would be written not on tablets but their hearts, so cool) as well as, how Christ fulfills all the covenants. Kinda want to reread to better absorb and not just listen to the audiobook.

[Brice Karickhoff]

I feel like I’ve said this 5 times, but reading books written by hosts of Knowing Faith is always just a little dull for me because I’ve already heard them say their part on each of these topics via podcast. Nonetheless, I often give them five stars bc they’re just so instructive and accessible.

I think this book effectively covers the biblical metanarrative without overindulging in academic or contentious dialogue. If you read its description and see anything new to you, I’d recommend reading this book, especially if you struggle to place the significance and context of particular books in the Bible.

It took me 13 years of reading the Bible to realize that 5-10 chapters kind of provide a backbone for interpreting entire collections of books that seem otherwise fragmented.

[Ellen Przybyszewski]

"Human beings are shaped by stories. Our stories shape our imagination, our deepest hopes and longings, our fears and anxieties, the way we want to be treated, the way we treat other people, and what we think about God and life and reality. The goal of this book is to help you live in the true story"

"To become faithful participants in the storyline of the Bible, we both look back in remembrance and look forward in rehearsal"

"The story of the Bible is the story of God establishing His kingdom on earth... the Bible is all about the kingdom established, lost, promised, and re-established."

"The kingdom of God is about God establishing His presence with His people in His place as they live out His purposes"

[Angela Ebert]

Part of a three-book curriculum that I read for a course at my church that was called Disciple Year. It was a school-year long course, with readings and activities including: prayer activities, sharing your story (as part of the larger story God is writing in the world), reading several sections of the Bible each week, spending a few hours one day in silence and solitude, and writing out how you would retell the story of the Bible in 10-15 minutes.
I liked the course - we met weekly for teaching videos and discussion of the material in small groups.
This book was one of two books in the 3-book series that primarily covered theology. It’s a great first book for this topic, and comes from a reformed theological perspective.

[Rachel Menke]

I really enjoyed this book. While I’ve long been a fan of Vaughn Roberts’ “God’s Big Picture” which has a similar premise I found “Remember and Rehearse” took this idea and better applied it to the life of the Christian. This will definitely be a book I’ll be recommending to others as well as using as a discipleship tool.

*Side Note: this book could’ve benefitted from a better editor as I found several typos. Hopefully this will be remedied in future editions

[Jake Preston]

A very helpful and accessible overview of the biblical storyline. I appreciated the opening chapters and how J.T. outlined the many false stories we live into and how those stories conflict with the biblical story. This book would be very helpful in the context of a community group and/or church classroom setting.

[Brenda]

I feel like this is a basic intro to covenant theology. This would be perfect for college kids or new converts (I think his intended audience). It was easy to read, clear, biblical, helpful, and applicable.

[Brooks]

Ironically this book reminded me of historical context within scripture that made some Old Testament stories very profound. Enjoyable read and a good reminder of the single story that is repeated throughout scripture.

[Aimee Shaffer]

I can’t recommend this book enough. I took my time reading it and even rereading certain chapters. It opened my eyes to the realization that this story that I’m living here on earth is not my story but His story.

[C. Forrest Gard]

Solid. Gives an easy to read, succinct overview of God's work/plan for our redemption and helps you arrange the overarching story in your mind more clearly. This is one of those books that is easily worth the read for any Christian.

[David King]

Succinct without losing anything of its intended topic

[Charles Wetesnik]

It was a good book and I recommend it but I liked the book “You are a Theologian “ better…. ;-)

[Claire]

"Our greatest hope is not in death. Our greatest hope is in the death of death." 1:34

[Jennifer Bohnke]

4.5. A great introduction to our place in God’s story.

[Shannon Evans]

Read this for a class at church and really learned so much! I loved looking at all the different covenants God made with his people and how they became fulfilled through Christ.

[Claire Breedlove]

Great book on the covenants and the importance of remembering the promises of God. A good bit of harder to understand material that English explains very clearly!