Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Jeremiah 10:19-24.

The people of Jeremiah’s time had lost a sense of the power of God, placing more confidence in idolatry. Pray that words of the prophet will break you free from any brands of idolatry in your life.

Have a page of your journal open. Make a list of what the Spirit brings to your awareness as manifestations in your own life of what Jeremiah is preaching. What are your fears and worries that may be symptoms that your faith in the power of God is weakening in the face of temptation? Be honest … courageously honest. Feel the links that connect you with these people seven centuries before Christ.

Chapters 11 and 12 contain two of six personal laments of the prophet. They have Job-like power and beauty. How would you express laments about your own personal losses?

Jeremiah 10—12

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Lent we read Jeremiah 1—17.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: You the One who formed all things 10:16

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 Gospel.

In the time of the early church, anyone who confessed Jesus as Lord was expelled from the Temple and the local synagogues. Those beloved walls would no longer embrace the ones who had embraced Jesus. There would be no more pilgrimages to Jerusalem for them!

Herein lies the significance of the account of “The Man Born Blind.” Here too is that irony that threads its way through John’s Gospel. The miracle of being able to see for the first time since birth contrasts with the blindness of those who arrogantly claim to see, but who are in fact, blind.

May you be enriched by the confession of the blind man given the gift of sight by faith. No longer are the Pharisees there, “expelled” from Jesus’s presence by their disbelief. Remain with the blind man and Jesus. What is happening to you as you share this silent, loving space together?

John 9:1–41

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Jesus the light of the world. v. 5

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
During Lent and Easter, we read from the Gospel of John.

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 Exodus 35:30-35.

Here, as often throughout the Torah readings, the law of the Sabbath is repeated. Though these readings from Exodus are about holy objects, it is well to remember that the first designation of the word holy in the Bible in Genesis 2:3 is not given to an article, or even to a person: it is given to time—the Sabbath.

Everyone is involved in bringing the gifts for the Tabernacle. There is frequent use of terms such as those whose “hearts were stirred” and “spirits were willing.”

Moses repeats what the Lord gave to him in 31:2–6. This is among the earliest references in the Bible to the Holy Spirit filling someone. The Spirit gives Bezalel the anointing to gather all the gifts into the unity of the Tabernacle. God fills you with the Holy Spirit so that you may transform the gifts of others into a time and a place where God dwells.

Exodus 35:1—36:19

This is the first of three parts of the Torah Portion Vayahkel (And He Assembled) 
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.
Ex. 35:1—38:20

This year there is also read Pekude (Reckoning) 
Exodus 38:21—40:38

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Here and now is holiness.  36:19

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