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Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Genuine Faith and Sure Hope
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Genuine Faith and Sure Hope
by SPCK - N T Wright
Genuine Faith and Sure Hope 1 Peter 1.1-9 I am sitting in a newly built room. It was, before, simply a garage, without even a door: almost an open shed. But we needed to transform it into a place where I could work. So, for the first time in my life, I had to deal with architects…
The Pastoral Letters - Get Into Training
The Pastoral Letters - Get Into Training
by SPCK - N T Wright
Get into Training! 1Timothy 4.6-10 The last time I made a serious effort to get physically fit I had a specific purpose in mind. We were about to launch into a complicated move of house, and I knew that I was going to be on my feet all day for a long time, carrying boxes, books, …
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - God's Folly
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - God's Folly
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Folly 1 Corinthians 1.18-25 On 15 March 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated in Rome, a mile or so away from where I am writing these words. His killers were a group of conservative Republicans who thought, with good reason, that Caesar was planning to make himself king of…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - God's Covenant with Abraham
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - God's Covenant with Abraham
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Covenant with Abraham ROMANS 4.1-8 Imagine a four-year-old boy who has lost his parents in a terrible war. He is old enough to understand, and to grieve, but nothing like old enough to fend for himself. Some distant relatives look after him for a while, but they haven’t got…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - God's Farm, God's Building
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - God's Farm, God's Building
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Farm, God’s Building 1 Corinthians 3.5-11 Was Paul ‘the founder of Christianity’? I found myself embroiled in a debate on that subject a few years ago. From time to time people try to establish a familiar viewpoint: Jesus didn’t really begin Christianity, since he was just …
Revelation for Everyone - God's Victory
Revelation for Everyone - God's Victory
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Victory Revelation 19.1-10 In the strange new world of postmodern Britain, weddings are still highly popular, but they are also highly expensive. So much so, in fact, that it is now the norm rather than the exception for couples to live together for some years, intending to…
Hebrews for Everyone - God's Unchangeable Promise
Hebrews for Everyone - God's Unchangeable Promise
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Unchangeable Promise Hebrews 6.13-20 ‘What’s that, then?’ The little boy tugged at my hand and pointed to a large, ugly metal object prominently displayed near the front of the ship which was gliding by. I took him a little further along the quay, and we came to another shi…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Herod's vanity and Death
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Herod's vanity and Death
by SPCK - N T Wright
Herod’s Vanity and Death Acts 12.20-25 Whether or not Luke was aware of the comic value of the previous interlude, he was certainly aware of the powerful impact of the story with which he now closes the first half of his book. The official king of the Jews plays at being a pagan …
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Herod Kills James
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Herod Kills James
by SPCK - N T Wright
Herod Kills James Acts 12.1-5 What makes a monarch act violently towards his subjects? That question presses upon us at this point in Acts, because up to now we have heard nothing of Herod in this book. Parallels from other places, and other periods of history, may or may not be …
Hebrews for Everyone - Hold on Tight!
Hebrews for Everyone - Hold on Tight!
by SPCK - N T Wright
Hold on Tight! HEBREWS 3.14-19 Nobody wants to fall asleep while driving a car. But a remarkable number of people do it. In the UK at least, there are now signs on the major roads that warn motorists of the danger of sleepy driving. ‘Tiredness can kill,’ they say. You’d think it …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Humans Reject God and Embrace Corruption
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Humans Reject God and Embrace Corruption
by SPCK - N T Wright
Humans Reject God and Embrace Corruption ROMANS 1.18-23 I have just watched a large copper beech tree being felled. It was a difficult and dangerous job for those engaged in it, and I was fascinated to see how they went about their work, with ropes and other climbing equipment as…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Humanity and Faith
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Humanity and Faith
by SPCK - N T Wright
Humanity and Faith James 4.1-10 Schoolchildren of a certain age form exclusive friendships. Great human dramas are played out on a small scale when your daughter comes home in tears because her ‘best friend’ has declared she isn’t her best friend any more, but has taken up with s…
The Pastoral Letters - Human Families and God's Family
The Pastoral Letters - Human Families and God's Family
by SPCK - N T Wright
Human Families and God’s Family 1Timothy 5.1-8 I know a wonderful couple who have 11 children. Mind you, they didn’t have 11 together. His first wife died; her first husband died; they then met and married; and when they put his six and her five together, lo and behold, they had …
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Humble Shepherds
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Humble Shepherds
by SPCK - N T Wright
Humble Shepherds 1 Peter 5.1-7 From time to time the television or the newspapers tell us that there is a crisis of ‘leadership’. What that means, often enough, is that the media disapprove of the actual political leaders we happen to have at the moment, but even without that rat…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - How Salvation is Worked Out
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - How Salvation is Worked Out
by SPCK - N T Wright
How Salvation is Worked Out Philippians 2.12-18 It was an ugly city. The fine old buildings had been pulled down over the years, and they had been replaced by huge square concrete monstrosities. They were designed for function, not good looks – though by the time I went there the…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Instructions on Holy Living
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Instructions on Holy Living
by SPCK - N T Wright
Instructions on Holy Living Thessalonians 4.1-8 St Francis, famously, referred to his own body as ‘brother donkey’. It was a beloved part of himself, and yet it often seemed to have a mind of its own. It needed taming, bringing into obedience, as one would teach a large and heads…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Is Jesus from God?
John for Everyone Part 1 - Is Jesus from God?
by SPCK - N T Wright
Is Jesus from God? John 9.24-34 One of the most depressing things about war is the way in which both sides routinely invoke God on their side. People now joke about the First World War, in which British army chaplains were praying to God for victory while a few hundred yards away…
Luke for Everyone - Jairus's Daughter and the Woman with Chronic Bleeding