Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and Jeremiah 23:1-6.

Open rebellion and refusal to follow the Lord: this is what has become of God’s people in the 6th century B.C. God raises up Jeremiah whose hammer-like and fiery words are meant to shake the hearts of the people into repentance and recovery of God.

We know more from Jeremiah than from any other prophet about what it is like to speak on behalf of God. He finds his call repugnant and frustrating. Yet the fire still burns within. The alternative? Give up and refuse to prophesy—infinitely more difficult.

Only by doing what God calls you to do will you find inner peace and ultimate meaning to your life. The fire of God’s call upon your life transforms personal preferences. Yield to God.

Jeremiah 21—23

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the Season of Lent this year we read Jeremiah 18 to 35.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: You gathering us as sheep v. 3

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 Nick read the Firestarter and the reading.

This is the first time that Jesus predicts his Passion. He hears the anointed confession of Peter given the gift of knowing that Jesus is the Christ. Yet Peter is not ready to hear about the suffering of his Christ. Having just received a new name, he gets another: “Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Peter is shaken up—and needs to be. And you: do you shrink from following Jesus when you see him carrying a cross ahead of you and when he asks you to take up yours? Take it up. Do not stand with it. Carry it forward.

Think of the ashes again. What you make alone does not go with you into eternal life, but only what God makes through you. “How do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?”

Mark 8:31–38

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Saving life by losing life v. 35

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 Nick read the Firestarter and Exodus 28:36-38.

There is much concern in the world with what one wears. One has to look good. While this can be only a worldly principle, there is a truth that the Lord had in mind by ordering such detail about the clothing of Aaron and the priestly family of God’s people. They were a very special sign of the presence of God at work in others. That which is physically the closest to any person is the clothes worn. The sacramental quality of the clothes was thus a reminder of the closeness of the Lord.

Paul has this in mind when the clothing he encouraged Christians to wear are the inner virtues flowing outward that make God known to others—tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Col. 3:12). Engrave on your heart the phrase engraved on Aaron’s gold: “Set apart as Holy to the Lord.”

Exodus 28:31—29:18

This is the second of three parts of the Torah Portion Tetzaveh (And You Shall Command) 
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. 27:20—30:10

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Set apart—holy to You 28:36

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