Psalms for Everyone - How to Dwell with God
Psalms for Everyone - How to Dwell with God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Dwell with God Psalms for Everyone Part 1 Psalms 1-72 Psalm 15 A composition. David’s. 1 Yahweh, who may stay in your tent, who may dwell on your holy mountain? 2 The person who walks with integrity, and acts with faithfulness, and speaks the truth in his heart. 3 He has n…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church II
Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church II
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Build a Church 2 EXODUS 26: 31- 27: 21 When I was a toddler in the latter part of the Second World War, family lore says that I used to watch the “fireworks” and the “bonfires” from my second-floor bedroom. These were actually bombs falling on the RAF airstrip that is now …
Isaiah for Everyone - How to frighten People into Repentance
Isaiah for Everyone - How to frighten People into Repentance
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to frighten People into Repentance A little while ago I went to preach at a new church that is part of the “emerging church” movement, which started in Australasia and the UK and spread to the United States. Its background is an awareness that the traditional churches are in …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - How to Be a Peacemaker
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - How to Be a Peacemaker
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Be a Peacemaker Genesis 13: 1-13 When people need to divide up possessions, it can turn out to be difficult for one reason or another. I write in a context where there has been a collapse in house prices, with the odd result that some couples have had to give up getting di…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - How to Find Isaac a Wife
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - How to Find Isaac a Wife
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How To Find Isaac A Wife Genesis 24: 21-48 The first of the “Four Spiritual Laws” that have been the starting point for many people coming to faith in Christ is that “God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.” The law is supported by scriptural verses affirming God…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Check Things out with God
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Check Things out with God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Check Things Out with God EXODUS 32: 30-33: 11 Throughout most of my life, I have had a particular place where I pray each day. At the moment it is an ancient recliner chair sitting in front of my desk. Next to it is a little table where I keep a Bible and a prayer noteboo…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church
Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Build a Church 1 EXODUS 25: 1- 26: 30 At our church we have just begun inviting ourselves to make offerings for work that needs to be done to the buildings. We have a list of priorities, like the replacement of some wooden beams that have rotted in the rains (it is Califor…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Celebrate
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Celebrate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Celebrate LEVITICUS 23: 1- 24:9 When my parents could afford it, two or three times as a teenager I was able to go to “camps,” as they would be called in the United States (I am glad to say there were no tents in sight; we slept in school dormitories). It was at one of the…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Be the Bad Guy
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Be the Bad Guy
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Be the Bad Guy 2 Kings 21:1-26 I sometimes wish I knew what was going to happen in the future, though when I think about it, I am not so sure it’s a good idea. When my wife was diagnosed with her multiple sclerosis, if I had known how it would progress over four decades, I…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - I Have Kept Yahweh's Ways
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - I Have Kept Yahweh's Ways
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Have Kept Yahweh’s Ways? 2 Samuel 22: 21- 51 Last night I was talking to one of our students who served in the U.S. forces in Iraq as an antiterrorism operative. Like many soldiers, he came home with trauma that he has subsequently had to try to talk through over a period of ye…
Job for Everyone - I Hate the People Who Hate You
Job for Everyone - I Hate the People Who Hate You
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Hate the People Who Hate You Job 27: 1-23 When I have taken part in “quiet days” for reflection and prayer, three favorite Old Testament texts have been the one about the still, small voice that I mentioned in connection with Job 25–26, the “Be still and know that I am God” of …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - I Don't Sweat
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - I Don't Sweat
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Don’t Sweat Genesis 15: 6b-7 On the day before his inauguration as president, someone asked Barack Obama whether he was sweating. “Nah, I don’t sweat,” he replied. “You ever see me sweat?” Not yet, but it’s early, a news report commented. When I was about to move to the United …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Human Beings as Gardeners
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Human Beings as Gardeners
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Human Beings as Gardeners Genesis 2: 8-14 Where I grew up as a toddler in Birmingham, England, my father grew potatoes. Then, when I was at junior school we had a plum tree, and when I was at secondary school we had two apple trees. When I taught at seminary in Nottingham, I grew…
Exodus and Leviticus - Human Promises
Exodus and Leviticus - Human Promises
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Human Promises LEVITICUS 27: 1- 34 A distinctive feature of my seminary in the United States compared with my seminary in Britain is the high number of students who are “pastor’s kids” or “missionary kids.” I have wondered what lay behind this difference. It raises a question rai…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - I Can Be Wiser Than My Professor
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - I Can Be Wiser Than My Professor
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Can Be Wiser Than My Professor Psalm 119:97-120 After my class on the Prophets last night, we invited the students back to our home for scones and tea, and during the conversation one of them asked what I enjoyed most about teaching. My response was that I love sending people a…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - In the World And Also of The World
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - In the World And Also of The World
by SPCK - John Goldingay
In the World and Also of the World 1 Kings 20:1-21: 7 I am getting ready for a task force that is meeting next week to discuss the use of the Bible in the Anglican Communion worldwide. The meeting will be complicated because we include members of the Episcopal Church in the Unite…
Job for Everyone - Insight Lies in Submission to the Lord
Job for Everyone - Insight Lies in Submission to the Lord
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Insight Lies in Submission to the Lord Job 28: 1-28 In two weeks I have to preach at the seminary’s baccalaureate service (a kind of commissioning service, I could call it for U.K. readers). Each year as I have listened appreciatively to the baccalaureate sermon, I have wondered …
Job for Everyone - Is God Not Good or Not Sovereign?