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Luke for Everyone - Judging Others and True Obedience
Luke for Everyone - Judging Others and True Obedience
by SPCK - N T Wright
Judging Others and True Obedience Luke 6.39-49 One picture is worth a thousand words. Here, in quick succession, are four of Jesus’ most vivid word-sketches. They are meant to be funny. Try reading them like that, and you’ll see a dry, perhaps typically Jewish, humour coming thro…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Loving Your Enemies
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Loving Your Enemies
by SPCK - N T Wright
Loving Your Enemies Matthew 5.38-48 There was once a father who had to go away from his young family for three or four days on business. Anxious that his wife should be properly looked after in his absence, he had a word with the oldest son, who was nine at the time. ‘When I’m aw…
Revelation for Everyone - New Jerusalem
Revelation for Everyone - New Jerusalem
by SPCK - N T Wright
New Jerusalem Revelation 21.6-21 When people decide they are going to read the Bible, they often begin, naturally enough, with the book of Genesis. Encouraged by the fast-paced story with its drama, incident and passion, they often move on to the book of Exodus, expecting more of…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Words of Blessing
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Words of Blessing
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Words of Blessing Thessalonians 3.11-13 Prayer and music have always gone together in the Christian church, and another musical illustration may help us find ways of making Paul’s prayers our own. When children begin to learn a musical instrument, or to sing, the teacher o…
Luke for Everyone - Questions about Table-Company and Fasting
Luke for Everyone - Questions about Table-Company and Fasting
by SPCK - N T Wright
Questions about Table-Company and Fasting Luke 5.27-39 Technology advances so fast that most of us can’t keep up. If you buy a computer today, by tomorrow it will be getting out of date. Within a year or two you won’t be able to get spare parts for it. Teams of engineers are work…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Puffed Up or Powerful
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Puffed Up or Powerful
by SPCK - N T Wright
Puffed Up or Powerful 1 Corinthians 4.14-21 We all know the difference between talk and power. Imagine you are driving along a road, without worrying too much about how fast you’re going. All of a sudden a large car with flashing lights overtakes you and motions you to pull over.…
Luke for Everyone - The Beatitudes
Luke for Everyone - The Beatitudes
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Beatitudes Luke 6.12-26 Let us imagine that you are a schoolteacher. One day, you go out into the school playground, where there are dozens of children kicking footballs around. You go over to where they are, and call for them to gather round. Then you begin, slowly but surel…
Luke for Everyone - The Celebration of Jesus
Luke for Everyone - The Celebration of Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Celebration of Jesus Luke 10.17-24 What was it like being Jesus? That’s one of the hardest questions for anyone reading the gospels, but this passage gives us some clues. It’s all too easy for Christians to make the mistake of thinking that he just sailed through life with ea…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Calming of the Storm
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Calming of the Storm
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Calming of the Storm Matthew 8.23-27 The sea has always been a symbol of wild, untamable power. You only have to stand beside the ocean, even on a calm day, to sense something of it. There is so much of it, for a start; when the tide comes in, up a beach, imagine how many gal…
Revelation for Everyone - The First Four Plagues
Revelation for Everyone - The First Four Plagues
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Four Plagues Revelation 16.1-9 I was cycling down the road one day when I came up beside my former tutor. I had studied the New Testament with him some years before, and was now engaged on some early work towards my doctorate. ‘How are you getting on?’ he asked. ‘How’s …
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Leaven of the Pharisees
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Leaven of the Pharisees
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Leaven of the Pharisees Matthew 16.1-12 Our generation is bombarded with signs. Drive along a city street, especially at night, and your eyes will be dazzled with signs of all sorts. Some of them are necessary to tell you where to go and where not to go: if you ignore red and…
Luke for Everyone - The Miraculous Catch of Fish
Luke for Everyone - The Miraculous Catch of Fish
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Miraculous Catch of Fish Luke 5.1-11 ‘When Christ calls a person,’ declared Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ‘he tells them to come and die.’ Bonhoeffer, of course, did exactly that, hanged by the Nazis for resistance to Hitler. But when Simon Peter first met Jesus, he didn’t realize thi…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Fool
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Fool
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Rich Fool Luke 12.13-34 The modern Western world is built on anxiety. You see it on the faces of people hurrying to work. You see it even more as they travel home, tired but without having solved life’s problems. The faces are weary, puzzled, living with the un…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Parable of the Sower
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Parable of the Sower
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Sower Matthew 13.1-9 We stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee on a spring morning. The bus was up by the road, and we had walked down, several dozen of us, to where the lake was glistening in the sunshine. It was peaceful and still. The ground slopes up stee…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Great Banquet
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Great Banquet
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Great Banquet Luke 14.12-24 Once, many years ago, I preached a sermon on this passage. I emphasized the extraordinary way in which Jesus tells his hearers to do something that must have been as puzzling then as it is now. Don’t invite friends, relatives and nei…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question of the Resurrection
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question of the Resurrection
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Question of the Resurrection Matthew 22.23-33 I once sat on a college committee where two older members had a regular tactic for stopping any change that might have been proposed. When one of the younger members (myself, for instance) proposed doing something that would reall…
Luke for Everyone - The Rich Young Ruler
Luke for Everyone - The Rich Young Ruler
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Rich Young Ruler Luke 18.15-30 Luke, ever the artist, is building up his great picture with colour after colour, layer after layer of paint, until he draws the eye towards the great scene he has in mind when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. He has given us Jesus’ lessons on humili…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Transfiguration