SPCK
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Chasing on to the Finish
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Chasing on to the Finish
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chasing on to the Finish Philippians 3.12-16 The athletics match had reached a critical stage. One of the final races was left to be run: the 440 yards (the old version of today’s 400 metres). The athletes were bunched together as they came to the first bend, and one of them was …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Gaining the Messiah
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Gaining the Messiah
by SPCK - N T Wright
Gaining the Messiah Philippians 3.7-11 A story is told of the great nineteenth-century Anglican pastor, poet and theologian John Keble. As a young don in Oxford in the early years of the century, he held at one stage the office of college bursar. Few clergy then, or now for that …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Warning: Don't Trust the Flesh
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Warning: Don't Trust the Flesh
by SPCK - N T Wright
Warning: Don’t Trust in the Flesh Philippians 3.1-6 If you saw a movie advertisement which highlighted the word FLESH, you would know what it meant. Pornography, no doubt. Graphic sexual scenes, quite likely. Or at least that’s what they would want you to think, to try to lure yo…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - On Epaphroditus
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - On Epaphroditus
by SPCK - N T Wright
On Epaphroditus Philippians 2.25-30 When I was at school a first-year physics teacher once asked us the question in an examination: What are the advantages of having two eyes? The correct answer, of course, was that with two eyes you can see things in three dimensions, and learn …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - On Timothy
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - On Timothy
by SPCK - N T Wright
On Timothy Philippians 2.19-24 When I taught in the university, one of my annual tasks was to interview candidates for admission the following year. The first time I did this, a young man came for interview who seemed quiet and subdued. He wasn’t very sure of himself, and didn’t …
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 The fine old buildings had been pulled down over the years, and they had been replaced by huge square concrete monstrosities.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 The Prison Letters - The Mind of the Messiah
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Mind of the Messiah
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Mind of the Messiah When people in the ancient world thought of heroic leaders, rulers and kings they often thought of Alexander the Great (356–323 BC). At the age of 20 he succeeded his father Philip to the throne of Macedonia, quickly made himself master of all Greece, and …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Unity in Everything
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Unity in Everything
by SPCK - N T Wright
Unity in Everything Philippians 2.1-4 We sat and watched spellbound as the actors moved at what seemed like the speed of light. It was a complex and intricate play, with many layers and double or treble meanings. At times things were happening so fast, all around the stage, that …
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - To Live or to Die?
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - To Live or to Die?
by SPCK - N T Wright
To Live or to Die? Philippians 1.18b-26 One of the great questions that people have asked throughout human history, and still address particularly to religious leaders, is this: where do we go when we die? Until recently, most people in what used to be the Christian Western world…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Gospel in Public
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Gospel in Public
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Gospel in Public Philippians 1.27-30 ‘Don’t let him see you’re afraid.’ My aunt hissed the words into my ear as the big dog came bounding up the street towards us. It seemed silly advice at the time. I was afraid. I was only seven years old and the previous year a small dog h…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Gospel in Public
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Gospel in Public
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Gospel in Public Philippians 1.27-30 ‘Don’t let him see you’re afraid.’ My aunt hissed the words into my ear as the big dog came bounding up the street towards us. It seemed silly advice at the time. I was afraid. I was only seven years old and the previous year a small dog h…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The King is Proclaimed
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The King is Proclaimed
by SPCK - N T Wright
The King is Proclaimed Philippians 1.12-18a One of the most dramatic stories anywhere in ancient literature is that of Joseph, the second youngest son of the patriarch Jacob. His father spoiled him rotten, and his older brothers were jealous. They wanted to kill him, then they de…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Paul's Reasons for Thanks
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Paul's Reasons for Thanks
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Reasons for Thanks Philippians 1.1-11 . There is a wonderful old prayer attributed to the sixteenth century sailor Sir Francis Drake (1540–96).He prays that when God leads us to undertake any great piece of work, he will also remind us ‘that it is not the beginning, but th…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Prayer and Peace
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Prayer and Peace
by SPCK - N T Wright
Prayer and Peace Ephesians 6.18-24 Imagine an eagle with clipped wings. Imagine a great oceangoing liner stuck in the Sahara sands. Imagine a basketball player with his ankles tied together. Imagine a railway locomotive in a ploughed field. Now imagine an ambassador wearing chain…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - God's Complete Armour
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - God's Complete Armour
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Complete Armour Ephesians 6.10-17 For some reason, almost whenever I write about passages like this one, dealing with spiritual warfare, I run into problems. One time a workman outside the house drove a nail through a main electricity cable, and I lost half an hour’s writin…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Children, Parents, Slaves and Masters
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Children, Parents, Slaves and Masters
by SPCK - N T Wright
Children, Parents, Slaves and Masters Ephesians 6.1-9 My first experience of a building site was disillusioning. I was part of the work crew building a factory. (I did the job for four weeks during a university holiday.) Right from the start it became clear that, with only one ex…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Wives and Husbands
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Wives and Husbands
by SPCK - N T Wright
Wives and Husbands Ephesians 5.21-33 At the start of the twenty-first century, it has been remarked that it is harder than ever to be a boy. Today, in the supposedly civilized and sophisticated countries of the world, there is growing up a whole generation of young men who feel t…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Light and Darkness