The Greatest Story Ever Told As You Never Heard it Before Brought to you by Bible Society and dramatised by Riding Lights Theatre Company, this audio CD set brings to life the whole New Testament in a dynamic and vibrant way. Let the power of audio storytelling take you back to first century Palestine Listen to the extraordinary life and teaching of Jesus Hear the compelling dramas of the early Church Discover more than you thought possible – enter into this audio experience and encounter the New Testament afresh. The stunning recording is an unabridged reading of the Contemporary English Version (CEV) New Testament – featuring Russell Boulter, Israel Oyelumade and 31 other actors. Sections from this recording previously used as part of Bible Society’s You’ve Got the Time programme. Running time approximately 20 hours The multi-voice recording of the New Testament was created by Riding Lights Theatre Company in May 2010 at the Digital Audio Studios in Skipton. Engineered and edited by Dave Aston. The text was adapted for voices by Paul Burbridge, with assistance from Yvonne Morley. Director: Paul Burbridge Assistant Director: Yvonne Morley Performed by: Kolade Agboke, Nadia Albina, Nicholas Bensberg, Susan Beresford, Russell Boulter, Paul Burbridge, Tim Charrington, Ruben Crow, Fred Denno, Emma Flett, Nigel Forde, Bud Gemmell, Rob Gooch, Pethrow Gooden, Abby Guinness, Vicki Hackett, Andrew Harrison, Julie Higginson, Zannah Hodson, Chris Jack, Gail Kemp, Rebecca Kennedy, Israel Oyelumade, Chris Pearse, Patrick Pearson-Miles, Tom Peters, Jonathan Race, Frances Simon, Luke Waldock, Mal Whiteley, Rachel Wilcock.

The New Testament - Contemporary English Version (Anglicised) 2010

<div class="version vid294 iso6393eng" data-vid="294" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkROM">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="ROM.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="ms1">Paul and his message of good news</div><div class="p"> 1From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.</div><div class="p">God chose me to be an apostle, and he appointed me to preach the good news 2that he promised long ago by what his prophets said in the holy Scriptures. 3-4This good news is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! As a human, he was from the family of David. But the Holy Spirit#1.4 the Holy Spirit: Or &#8220;his own spirit of holiness&#8221;. proved that Jesus is the powerful Son of God,#1.4 proved that Jesus is the powerful Son of God: Or &#8220;proved in a powerful way that Jesus is the Son of God&#8221;. because he was raised from death.</div><div class="p"> 5Jesus was kind to me and chose me to be an apostle,#1.5 Jesus was kind to me and chose me to be an apostle: Or &#8220;Jesus was kind to us and chose us to be his apostles&#8221;. so that people of all nations would obey and have faith. 6You are some of those people chosen by Jesus Christ.</div><div class="p"> 7This letter is to all of you in Rome. God loves you and has chosen you to be his very own people.</div><div class="p">I pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!</div><div class="s1">A prayer of thanks</div><div class="p"> 8First, I thank God in the name of Jesus Christ for all of you. I do this because people everywhere in the world are talking about your faith. 9God has seen how I never stop praying for you, while I serve him with all my heart and tell the good news about his Son.</div><div class="p"> 10In all my prayers, I ask God to make it possible for me to visit you. 11I want to see you and share with you the same blessings that God's Spirit has given me. Then you will grow stronger in your faith. 12What I am saying is that we can encourage each other by the faith that is ours.</div><div class="p"> 13My friends, I want you to know that I have often planned to come for a visit. But something has always kept me from doing it. I want to win followers to Christ in Rome, as I have done in many other places.#Ac 19.21. 14-15It doesn't matter if people are civilized and educated, or if they are uncivilized and uneducated. I must tell the good news to everyone. That's why I am eager to visit all of you in Rome.</div><div class="s1">The power of the good news</div><div class="p"> 16I am proud of the good news! It is God's powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.#Mk 8.38. 17The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith.#1.17 but only those who have faith: Or &#8220;and faith is all that matters.&#8221; It is just as the Scriptures say, &#8220;The people God accepts because of their faith will live.&#8221;#1.17 The people God accepts because of their faith will live: Or &#8220;The people God accepts will live because of their faith.&#8221;#He 2.4.</div><div class="ms1">Everyone is guilty</div><div class="p"> 18From heaven God shows how angry he is with all the wicked and evil things that sinful people do to crush the truth. 19They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them. 20God's eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That's why those people don't have any excuse. 21They know about God, but they don't honour him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark.#Eph 4.17,18. 22They claim to be wise, but they are fools. 23They don't worship the glorious and eternal God. Instead, they worship idols that are made to look like humans who cannot live for ever, and like birds, animals, and reptiles.#Dt 4.16-18.</div><div class="p"> 24So God let these people go their own way. They did what they wanted to do, and their filthy thoughts made them do shameful things with their bodies. 25They gave up the truth about God for a lie, and they worshipped God's creation instead of God, who will be praised for ever. Amen.</div><div class="p"> 26God let them follow their own evil desires. Women no longer wanted to have sex in a natural way, and they did things with each other that were not natural. 27Men behaved in the same way. They stopped wanting to have sex with women and had strong desires for sex with other men. They did shameful things with each other, and what has happened to them is punishment for their foolish deeds.</div><div class="p"> 28Since these people refused even to think about God, he let their useless minds rule over them. That's why they do all sorts of indecent things. 29They are evil, wicked, and greedy, as well as mean in every possible way. They want what others have, and they murder, argue, cheat, and are hard to get along with. They gossip, 30say cruel things about others, and hate God. They are proud, conceited, and boastful, always thinking up new ways to do evil.</div><div class="p">These people don't respect their parents. 31They are stupid, unreliable, and don't have any love or pity for others. 32They know God has said that anyone who acts this way deserves to die. But they keep on doing evil things, and they even encourage others to do them.</div>
 </div>
 </div>
</div>

From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.
God chose me to be an apostle, and he appointed me to preach the good news that he promised long ago by what his prophets said in the holy Scriptures. This good news is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! As a human, he was from the family of David. But the Holy Spirit proved that Jesus is the powerful Son of God, because he was raised from death.
Jesus was kind to me and chose me to be an apostle, so that people of all nations would obey and have faith. You are some of those people chosen by Jesus Christ.
This letter is to all of you in Rome. God loves you and has chosen you to be his very own people.
I pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

First, I thank God in the name of Jesus Christ for all of you. I do this because people everywhere in the world are talking about your faith. God has seen how I never stop praying for you, while I serve him with all my heart and tell the good news about his Son.
In all my prayers, I ask God to make it possible for me to visit you. I want to see you and share with you the same blessings that God's Spirit has given me. Then you will grow stronger in your faith. What I am saying is that we can encourage each other by the faith that is ours.
My friends, I want you to know that I have often planned to come for a visit. But something has always kept me from doing it. I want to win followers to Christ in Rome, as I have done in many other places. It doesn't matter if people are civilized and educated, or if they are uncivilized and uneducated. I must tell the good news to everyone. That's why I am eager to visit all of you in Rome.

I am proud of the good news! It is God's powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith. It is just as the Scriptures say, “The people God accepts because of their faith will live.”

From heaven God shows how angry he is with all the wicked and evil things that sinful people do to crush the truth. They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them. God's eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That's why those people don't have any excuse. They know about God, but they don't honour him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark. They claim to be wise, but they are fools. They don't worship the glorious and eternal God. Instead, they worship idols that are made to look like humans who cannot live for ever, and like birds, animals, and reptiles.
So God let these people go their own way. They did what they wanted to do, and their filthy thoughts made them do shameful things with their bodies. They gave up the truth about God for a lie, and they worshipped God's creation instead of God, who will be praised for ever. Amen.
God let them follow their own evil desires. Women no longer wanted to have sex in a natural way, and they did things with each other that were not natural. Men behaved in the same way. They stopped wanting to have sex with women and had strong desires for sex with other men. They did shameful things with each other, and what has happened to them is punishment for their foolish deeds.
Since these people refused even to think about God, he let their useless minds rule over them. That's why they do all sorts of indecent things. They are evil, wicked, and greedy, as well as mean in every possible way. They want what others have, and they murder, argue, cheat, and are hard to get along with. They gossip, say cruel things about others, and hate God. They are proud, conceited, and boastful, always thinking up new ways to do evil.
These people don't respect their parents. They are stupid, unreliable, and don't have any love or pity for others. They know God has said that anyone who acts this way deserves to die. But they keep on doing evil things, and they even encourage others to do them.

Listen to Romans 1