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The Pastoral Letters - Foolish Words and the Word of Truth
The Pastoral Letters - Foolish Words and the Word of Truth
by SPCK - N T Wright
Foolish Words and the Word of Truth 2Timothy 2.14-19 ‘What we need to know’, said the young lawyer, ‘is what Professor Johnson really means by “reform”. He says he’s proposing a “reform” in the way we admit undergraduates to the College. But the word “reform” really means “the sa…
The Pastoral Letters - Foes and Friends
The Pastoral Letters - Foes and Friends
by SPCK - N T Wright
Foes and Friends 2Timothy 1.15-18 The most difficult thing I have found in Christian ministry is opposition from people I thought were friends, or at least colleagues, fellow-workers. One of the hardest parts, of course, is the nagging thought that people who disagree with me mig…
The Pastoral Letters - God's Kingdom and Generosity - and Ours
The Pastoral Letters - God's Kingdom and Generosity - and Ours
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Kindness and Generosity – and Ours Titus 3.1-8a I went to a spectacular birthday party last weekend. Our host, who was turning 70, had laid on a lavish evening. Nothing had been spared to make his guests comfortable and happy. The food was terrific; the wine of the highest …
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Great is Ephesian Artemis
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Great is Ephesian Artemis
by SPCK - N T Wright
“Great is Ephesian Artemis” Acts 19.23-41 We ought to know the scene by now. We see it often enough on our television screens. A huge gathering, assembled in the street and the public square. Faces are flushed with excitement and anger. Being reminded of some great hero or leader…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Good News, Salvation and the Justice of God
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Good News, Salvation and the Justice of God
by SPCK - N T Wright
Good News, Salvation and the Justice of God ROMANS 1.14-17 When I was a boy, one of my regular holiday occupations was making plastic model aeroplanes. I remember the excitement of getting the parts out of the box, carefully cutting them off the stem which held them together, and…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Good News about the New King
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Good News about the New King
by SPCK - N T Wright
Good News about the New King ROMANS 1.1-7 From time to time, scientists have sent space probes to Mars. The object of the exercise is of course to try to find out more about the great planet which, although it’s our nearest neighbour, is still over a hundred million miles away. F…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Grace, not Works
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Grace, not Works
by SPCK - N T Wright
Grace, not Works Ephesians 2.8-10 In the mid-1970s a country vet in a small town in northern England suddenly became world-famous. James Herriot, quite suddenly and in mid-life, wrote books that sold in huge quantities around the world. Herriot (whose real name was Alfred Wight) …
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and His Brothers
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and His Brothers
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and His Brothers John 7.1-9 Many Jewish communities around the world keep the festival of Tabernacles, or ‘Booths’, to this day. The ‘tabernacles’ in question are usually makeshift shelters, made out of whatever comes to hand, set up in the open air in a back yard or porch.…
Mark for Everyone - Jesus Before Pilate
Mark for Everyone - Jesus Before Pilate
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 15.1–15 Jesus Before Pilate... ...Today they sell crosses in fashionable jewellery shops. If you ask the shop assistants, you will find that many of them don’t know where the symbol comes from, or what it means; and neither do many of their customers. It ha…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Calms the Storm
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Calms the Storm
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Calms the Storm Luke 8.16-25 The chairman of the board looked around the room. This was a big decision and everyone knew it. ‘Can we agree on this plan, then?’ he asked. ‘We need to decide.’ Twenty serious faces looked back at him, each with their own portfolio to consider,…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Cleanses the Temple
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Cleanses the Temple At last it is Jesus’ turn to cry. Earlier in the gospel we find other people in tears: the widow at Nain, Jairus’s family, and others in distress coming to him for healing and new life. The women of Jerusalem will shortly be weeping for Jesus himself (23…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Judgment on Jerusalem and It's Leaders
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Judgment on Jerusalem and It's Leaders
by SPCK - N T Wright
Judgment on Jerusalem and Its Leaders Matthew 23.34-39 For many city-dwellers, myself included, life on a farm can appear idyllic. Memories of brief visits to farming relatives when I was a child combine with the view of peaceful rural life seen from a car or a train. Living in c…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Live Up to Your Calling
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Live Up to Your Calling
by SPCK - N T Wright
Live Up to Your Calling Ephesians 4.1-10 If you buy a new car, what’s the first thing you do? Do you sit down for an hour and read through the manual, to make sure you know every little detail about it before you take to the road? Or do you at once get behind the wheel and go for…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Love, Peace and Thanksgiving
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - Love, Peace and Thanksgiving
by SPCK - N T Wright
Love, Peace and Thanksgiving Colossians 3.12-17 Here’s the acid test for whether Paul is talking sense or not. Read again through the list of sexual and speech-related misbehaviour in verses 5–9. Then read through verses 12–17. Ask yourself this: supposing there was a town in whi…
The Pastoral Letters - Opponents of the Truth
The Pastoral Letters - Opponents of the Truth
by SPCK - N T Wright
Opponents of the Truth 2Timothy 3.1-9 It was a scrappy end to the game, but perhaps it was inevitable. We were winning by what should have been a safe margin; and with a few minutes to go the opposition seemed to realize that their cause was hopeless. Perhaps for that reason, tho…
2 Corinthians - Our Boasting Proved True
2 Corinthians - Our Boasting Proved True
by SPCK - N T Wright
Our Boasting Proved True! 2 CORINTHIANS 7.11-16 The first time I stayed with my friends in Germany I explained to them just how beautiful the north of England was. They had never seen it, and they had only heard a little about the hills and woods, the mountains, the ancient castl…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Opposition in Nazareth
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Opposition in Nazareth
by SPCK - N T Wright
Opposition in Nazareth Matthew 13.54-58 She came home from school with all the wide-eyed excitement of an eager eight-year-old, clutching the clarinet case to her like a favourite teddy bear. She had had her first music lesson on the new instrument that morning. She couldn’t wait…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Conversion and Call