Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Ezekiel 32:16-19.

Using the image of a ship, as Ezekiel did in the case of Tyre, he prophesies the destruction of ancient Egypt. Another ancient power will come against Egypt, Assyria, likened to a great cedar tree. Chapter 32 is a lamentation for Pharaoh and Egypt as poetically powerful pictures describe the downfall of this formerly strong nation.

God is in charge of all the nations. They will rise and fall in their own manipulative power. Only those nations truly dedicated to the Lord will have a power that cannot be taken away from them. It means living in the Kingdom of God and not in the kingdom of the world. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom with roots sunk deep in the earth right now.

As you pray, feel the divine Kingdom of which you are a special citizen. Pray for this hurting world.

Ezekiel 31—32

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the Season of Easter this year we read Ezekiel 17-32.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Praying for this hurting world

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the reading.

The traditional day for the Ascension is last Thursday. The Lord has returned to heaven, completing the Father’s will in dying and rising for us, sitting at the right hand of God. Now the Spirit can come in complete measure.

The Gospel gathers the mystery of the Lord together in the moment of Ascension, also described in the opening chapter of the Book of Acts. There is one final instruction: “Wait in the city till you are clothed with power from on high.”

Luke’s Gospel ends as it began—in the Temple. From the lonely, aged Zechariah in the Holy of Holies, to the New Community raised by Jesus, the Temple is the place of God’s praise and glory. However, what is about to happen in the Holy Spirit is that the community itself becomes the temple, the place of God’s presence. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 24:44–53

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Returning to life in joy v. 52

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Leviticus 19:1-4;9-18.

Ceremonial and moral laws are considered again, as in Exodus and Deuteronomy. First on the list is honoring of father and mother. Four times Jesus quotes the second half of v. 18 as a summary of all the commandments with respect to our neighbor (Matthew 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27).
The manner of treating strangers is very sacred in the life of a Jew. Respect for them is due because the Jew was a stranger in the land of Egypt. The stranger and the sacred were very much understood together. Benedict, born about 480 A.D., the founder of western monasticism, stated in his Rule: Hospes venit, Christus venit: “A stranger comes, Christ comes.” The spirituality of Leviticus interprets all things as either connected to God, the sacred, or disconnected from God, the profane. Doing the will of God means that all choices are in keeping with what the Lord calls the person to be. Everything is potentially sacred.

Leviticus 19

This is the second of three parts of the Torah Portion Kedoshim (Holy) 
Conservative and Reform Jewish congregations read only this part this year,
as also in this Bible plan.
Here is the entire portion in all three parts.

Leviticus 19—20

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Holy, for Your are holy v. 2

The Saturday passages follow the reading list that Jewish people use in their synagogue worship
throughout the world. They are taken from
“The Torah,” the first five books of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy
that are read each year beginning with autumn.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information