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Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Unfinished Business
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Unfinished Business
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Unfinished Business NUMBERS 31:1- 34 Two or three years ago, out of the blue, I received a phone call from a Jewish lawyer in Los Angeles. He had self-published a book called Twenty-six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus, and he wanted me to make sure that his statements abo…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Weeks, Three Kings in Ephraim 1 Kings 15:25-16:34 Yesterday, as usual, we began our faculty meeting by sharing topics for prayer, and then as it happened I had to try to pray a prayer that covered them all. The sharing referred to someone’s health needs, to someone who had lo…
Exodus and Leviticus - Vocation
Exodus and Leviticus - Vocation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Vocation EXODUS 3: 11- 4: 17 In my seminary in England, most students had already been accepted as candidates for ordination, but in my seminary in California many more people come not sure what ministry they may seek or even what denomination they belong to. So we have an Office…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Two Very Different Attitudes to War
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Two Very Different Attitudes to War
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Very Different Attitudes to War NUMBERS 20: 14- 21:3 I write at what we hope is near the end of a war in Iraq but in the midst of a war in Afghanistan whose likely outcome no one can predict; both these wars relate to the attack on the United States of September 11, 2001. Bef…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild West
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild West
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Welcome to the Wild Wild West Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone JOSHUA 10: 28- 43 28That day Joshua took Makkedah and struck it down, it and its king, with the edge of the sword. He devoted them, along with every person there. He did not let any survivor remain. So he dealt wi…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - What Game is Joseph Playing?
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - What Game is Joseph Playing?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Game Is Joseph Playing? Genesis 42:1-35 I arrived home late one evening, picked up the mail, and checked messages. When I was in charge of a seminary, I used to avoid reading messages just before bedtime in case it gave me things to worry about that kept me from sleeping, bu…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - When the Apostate King's Son Gets Sick
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - When the Apostate King's Son Gets Sick
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the Apostate King’s Son Gets Sick 1 Kings 13:33-14:20 Last night a friend of mine was blowing a fuse concerning the sermon at her church a couple of Sundays ago. The preacher was talking about Jesus’ healing of the man who had been lying sick by the Pool of Siloam for thirty…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When Minister's Indulge Themselves
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When Minister's Indulge Themselves
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When Ministers Indulge Themselves 1 Samuel 2: 11- 36 Lent has just begun. Just beforehand, over dinner, the members of our Bible study group were wondering what Lenten discipline they might take on. I argued that discipline was better understood as a matter of doing something pos…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Has to Take Decisive Action
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Has to Take Decisive Action
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the King Has to Take Decisive Action 1 Samuel 13: 1- 22 Saul mustered the company of those that were present with him, some six hundred men. 16Saul and his son Jonathan and the company that was present with them were staying at Geba in Benjamin, and the Philistines were camp…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Isn't Tough Enough
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - When the King Isn't Tough Enough
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When the King Isn’t Tough Enough 1 Samuel 15: 1- 33 According to news reports, at U.S. bases in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in the first decade of the twenty-first century we were engaged in the torture of people suspected of terrorist acts. This involved keeping people in constrained…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Where to Find Isaac a Wife
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Where to Find Isaac a Wife
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Where To Find Isaac a Wife Genesis 24: 1-20 When you make your short list of the things that you pray most concerning your children, their being able to marry the “right” person (and keep that marriage going) is near the top of the list. Our sons married beautiful, strong women w…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - When You Need an Expert
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - When You Need an Expert
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When You Need an Expert Genesis 40:9-41:24 Three months ago, I had a routine medical procedure (I will spare you the clinical details). A few weeks before it was due, I happened to read a report of research on this particular procedure that suggested it might not be as useful as …
Exodus and Leviticus - Whose Service is Perfect Freedom
Exodus and Leviticus - Whose Service is Perfect Freedom
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Whose Service is Perfect Freedom EXODUS 5:1- 6:1 Tomorrow I shall preside at a “service” in church. In what sense do we “serve” God by singing hymns and so on? Indeed, is it God that we are serving? Yesterday, one of my colleagues on the seminary’s chapel committee asked me what …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Who Will Entice Ahab?
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Who Will Entice Ahab?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Who Will Entice Ahab? 1 Kings 22:1-23 I’ve recently started rewatching the television drama series The West Wing from the beginning, and last night I saw a couple of episodes about the Democrat-run White House offering a job to a lawyer who is a totally convinced Republican who h…
Isaiah for Everyone - Who Would Want to be a Superpower?
Isaiah for Everyone - Who Would Want to be a Superpower?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Who Would Want to Be a Superpower? Two days ago the news reported that for every soldier who dies on the battlefield in Afghanistan, twenty-five veterans commit suicide at home. It’s such an unbelievable statistic I have just checked it again. Yesterday the news reported that the…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Wives and Adversaries
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Wives and Adversaries
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Wives and Adversaries 1 Kings 11:1-43 When my sister was abandoned by her husband just after the birth of their son, she moved back to live with our parents for a while to find a way of getting her life back together, and eventually met a nice young man (also called John, as is h…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Will God Really Dwell on Earth?
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Will God Really Dwell on Earth?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Will God Really Dwell on Earth? 1 Kings 8:10-30 An hour or two ago I was sitting not at my desk, as I am now, but in my recliner chair, where I start off the day with my coffee, reading the Bible just for my own benefit and praying for people, and I sometimes picture God sitting …
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Why Were They So Stupid?