SPCK - N T Wright
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Distress Over the Galatians
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Distress Over the Galatians
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Distress Over the Galatians Galatians 1.1-9 Imagine you’re in South Africa in the 1970s. Apartheid is at its height. You are embarked on a risky project: to build a community centre where everybody will be equally welcome, no matter what their colour or race. You’ve design…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Introduction
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Introduction
by SPCK - N T Wright
INTRODUCTION On the very first occasion when someone stood up in public to tell people about Jesus, he made it very clear: this message is for everyone. It was a great day – sometimes called the birthday of the church. The great wind of God’s spirit had swept through Jesus’ follo…
Hebrews for Everyone - Glossary
Hebrews for Everyone - Glossary
by SPCK - N T Wright
GLOSSARY age to come, see present age apostle, disciple, the Twelve ‘Apostle’ means ‘one who is sent’. It could be used of an ambassador or official delegate. In the New Testament it is sometimes used specifically of Jesus’ inner circle of twelve; but Paul sees not only himself b…
Hebrews for Everyone - The God of Peace Be With You
Hebrews for Everyone - The God of Peace Be With You
by SPCK - N T Wright
The God of Peace Be With You Hebrews 13.17-25 I was chatting with a friend who had recently become a bishop. He was and is a wonderful man, scholarly, wise, outgoing, full of ideas and devotion and love and goodness. You might have thought any church would be glad to have him as …
Hebrews for Everyone - Outside the Old City, Seeking the New
Hebrews for Everyone - Outside the Old City, Seeking the New
by SPCK - N T Wright
Outside the Old City, Seeking the New Hebrews 13.9-16 I mentioned earlier that I had been reading the diary of a clergyman who had been a prisoner of war from 1940 to 1945. It was both fascinating and frustrating. Fascinating as a firsthand, day-by-day account of the life such pe…
Hebrews for Everyone - The Practical Life of God's People
Hebrews for Everyone - The Practical Life of God's People
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Practical Life of God’s People Hebrews 13.1-8 ‘Sex, power, money, suffering. Tomorrow morning’s newspaper will be full of it; it’s what sells, it’s what some people think makes the world go round. Meanwhile, you can look through the newspaper from end to end for a mention of …
Hebrews for Everyone - From Mount Sinai to Mount Sion
Hebrews for Everyone - From Mount Sinai to Mount Sion
by SPCK - N T Wright
From Mount Sinai to Mount Sion Hebrews 12.18-24 ‘The year we moved to London we gave each of the children a map of the city and a small guide to the main attractions. Predictably, each of them became excited over different things which the city had to offer. One was noting the ma…
Hebrews for Everyone - Watch Out for Dangers!
Hebrews for Everyone - Watch Out for Dangers!
by SPCK - N T Wright
Watch Out for Dangers! Hebrews 12.12-17 ‘It was a moment of madness.’ The politician stood shamefully before the press. He had been caught out soliciting for sexual favours in a notorious part of town. His character was in ruins, his reputation in tatters. He would not now get th…
Hebrews for Everyone - Christian Suffering is God's Discipline
Hebrews for Everyone - Christian Suffering is God's Discipline
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christian Suffering is God’s Discipline Hebrews 12.4-11 Western society is in a turmoil these days about discipline. We have become very aware of the dangers of physical violence at every level. What happens when a child grows up knowing only that authority belongs to the person …
Hebrews for Everyone - Looking to Jesus
Hebrews for Everyone - Looking to Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Looking to Jesus Hebrews 12.1-3 I went to a school that prided itself on its outdoor pursuits. Set high in the Yorkshire Dales in north-west England, it celebrated its location in several ways, the annual climax being a ten-mile cross-country race over steep, difficult ground. Of…
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith and the Future: The Great Crowd
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith and the Future: The Great Crowd
by SPCK - N T Wright
Faith and the Future: The Great Crowd Hebrews 11.32-40 It is said that on one occasion the sixteenth-century Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila confronted God about her own suffering, and received the response: ‘This is how I deal with my friends.’ ‘Well,’ she replied sharply, ‘in th…
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith and the Future: Moses and the Exodus
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith and the Future: Moses and the Exodus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Faith and the Future: Moses and the Exodus Hebrews 11.23-32 ‘The young man came from a wealthy family. His father was a well-respected figure in the community. Everyone expected the son to follow him in his profession and, like him, attain wealth and noble standing. But the young…
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith that Looks Beyond Death
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith that Looks Beyond Death
by SPCK - N T Wright
Faith that Looks Beyond Death Hebrews 11.13-22 ‘Dad, will you walk on ahead just a bit?’ They were going into the middle of town on a Saturday morning. Why would his 14-year-old daughter ask him to walk ahead, rather than beside her as he had been doing? He meekly obeyed. (Always…
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith and the Future: Noah, Abraham, Sarah
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith and the Future: Noah, Abraham, Sarah
by SPCK - N T Wright
Faith and the Future: Noah, Abraham, Sarah Hebrews 11.7-12 ‘The starry heaven above us’ was one of the two central facts upon which the great philosopher Immanuel Kant based his view of God. (The other was ‘the moral law within us’.) From the earliest recorded times, humans have …
Hebrews for Everyone - Suffering in Hope
Hebrews for Everyone - Suffering in Hope
by SPCK - N T Wright
Suffering in Hope Hebrews 10.32-39 He had watched and prayed and warned the people of what would happen if they didn’t turn away from their evil ways. He had hoped that some at least would listen, and that the nation as a whole would gradually be brought round to hear and obey. H…
Hebrews for Everyone - Warning of Judgement
Hebrews for Everyone - Warning of Judgement
by SPCK - N T Wright
Warning of Judgment Hebrews 10.26-31 It was said of the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula, who went mad and did all sorts of bizarre things, that he took to inventing new laws, and having them carved in small letters on tablets and then placed high up on walls, too high for people to …
Hebrews for Everyone - So - Come to Worship
Hebrews for Everyone - So - Come to Worship
by SPCK - N T Wright
So- Come to Worship! Hebrews 10.19-25 I watched as my mother came in from shopping, carrying several bulging bags. She called me to help get the rest from the car. I couldn’t think why she’d bought so much food, but I fetched and carried and unloaded as best I could. Then I remem…
Hebrews for Everyone - The Finished Achievement of the Messiah