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Acts 5 (Day 5)

The first part of this chapter contains one of the most troubling stories in Acts. Believers named Ananias and Sapphira are drawn to the new Church, and along with many others sell land and donate the proceeds. But they lie, saying they've given...

Acts 6: How conflict shows us who we are (Day 6)

Acts 6 is a story of conflict. As ever, the Bible is entirely realistic about human nature. Even in those early, heady days, believers fell out. The leaders in the new Church – the Apostles – spoke Aramaic. But in Jerusalem there were many Jews f...

Acts 7: Truths that are hard to hear (Day 7)

Acts 7 tells the story of the first martyr. Stephen, whose face 'looked like the face of an angel' when he was brought to trial, gives the Sanhedrin a history lesson, outlining in forensic detail – as a Jew speaking to fellow-Jews – all...

Acts 8: The Spirit is not for sale (Day 8)

The death of Stephen in the previous chapter marks the beginning of the first great persecution of the Church, in which the man who was to become the Apostle Paul played a leading part. Scattering the believers led to the spreading of the gospel, tho...

Acts 9.1–9: Life on the Damascus Road (Day 9)

A 'Damascus Road experience' has come to stand for anything that completely changes someone's perspective on life. This is the original, and it's a key moment for the early Church. Bitterly opposed to the gospel of Jesus, Paul –...

Acts 10.1–33: God begins to break down barriers (Day 10)

At the very beginning of the Church, the new believers faced a huge question ­– should the Jesus movement be for Jews only, or were Gentiles to be included as well? While there were plenty of Gentiles around in Palestine, observant Jews kept thems...

Genesis 12.1–9: Abraham's call and ours (Day 11)

The call of Abraham marks the beginning of the story of the people of Israel. He leaves his home city of Ur in Babylonia and travels to somewhere new. God tells him that this is the land he will give to his descendants, and so a new chapter in God�...

Genesis 13.1–13: Do the right thing (Day 12)

The characters of Abraham and Lot come out very clearly in this brief story. They are both substantial figures, with large numbers of livestock and large households. When competition for resources leads to conflict, it's Abraham who suggests a p...

Genesis 14.17–24: Owing all to God alone (Day 13)

This passage follows a rather complicated account of skirmishes between nine 'kings' – we're probably better thinking of them as tribal chieftains – which end up with Abraham's nephew Lot and his household being taken prisoner.

Genesis 15.1–6: Righteousness through faith (Day 14)

In Genesis 15, God makes a formal covenant with Abraham, evidently in a form that would have been recognisable in that ancient Middle Eastern context. However strange the details, the human situation is very recognisable. In an age when eternal sign...

Genesis 16.1–16: The God who sees me (Day 15)

The story of Hagar is one of the Bible's small domestic tragedies. It arises when Abraham's faith wavers. He has believed God will give him a son, but nothing seems to be happening so with Sarah's encouragement he takes matters into hi...

Genesis 17.1–10 The covenant of circumcision (Day 16)

According to the story, Abraham's faith in God has by now been severely tested. It is 13 years since the birth of Ishmael, and there is no sign of a son for Sarah. Now the sign of circumcision is to be imposed on all the males of his household a...

Genesis 18.1–33 (Day 17)

This chapter begins a story of high drama. Sitting at the entrance to his tent, Abraham receives angelic visitors, sometimes envisaged as representing the Trinity, as in the famous icon painted by Andrei Rublev in the 15th century.

Genesis 19.1–29: The overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Day 18)

The men – only two of them by now – who'd visited Abraham were now with Lot. They were faced with sexual assault, which Lot tries to avert by offering his virgin daughters instead. The potential offence against the ancient code of hospital...

Genesis 20.1–17: When fear corrupts God's people (Day 19)

One of the shocking things about some of the Old Testament stories is how routinely women are treated as property. This was normal in the ancient world, but implicit in the way these stories are told in the Bible is God's condemnation of this be...

Genesis 21.5–21: Party or pariah? (Day 20)

It should be party time. We’ve journeyed with Abraham and Sarah through the rough path of infertility, seemingly unfulfilled promises and a very long wait -- by anyone’s standards. But after 25 years, Isaac is now born! God has fulfilled his prom...

Genesis 22.11–12: Getting to know each other (Day 21)

If there’s anything you’ve picked up in the story of Abraham, it’s likely to be the significance of his role as a father of great nations, and that of his son Isaac through which this promise will come to pass. You don’t need me to tell you h...

Genesis 23.7–9 (Day 22)

Today we say goodbye to Sarah, with whom you've perhaps had a rollercoaster relationship as you've read the text. We've seen her good moments and her bad moments. She's a very human person caught up here in the purposes of God. A...

Genesis 24.1–9: What really matters (Day 23)

Tension is building as the scene is set: Abraham is old, God has blessed him and he's wrapping things up. He’s about to complete his final act: finding a wife for his son and thereby securing his family line. The formality of the agreement be...

Genesis 25.19–24: Unexpected outcomes (Day 24)

There are a few surprises in today’s reading – if not to us, who may be very familiar with it, then certainly to its characters, and its first hearers.

 

 

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