Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and the Gospel.

[From the original version]

The silence between Pilate and Jesus is awesome. Jesus refuses to defend himself or negotiate his outcome with this spineless man. Pilate is nothing but a puppet administrator, a lackey for the Roman emperor in this distant province.

Jesus’s hour has come—humiliating, painful, and overwhelmingly sad. Yet his hour moves closer to death and resurrection; Jesus surrenders himself for your salvation.

When you experience injustice, mockery, and suffering, may you discover a unique joy in Jesus and love for him, for being found more like him; so was Jesus treated out of love for you. When you come away from suffering with more union with your Lord, how can you lose?

Mark 15:1–20

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Silence before all Pilates v. 5

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels. This year, we generally read
from the Gospel of Mark, this season, chapters 10 to 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.

 “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 7:14

Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and Revelation 7:9-17.

[From the version for young people]

Let your imagination go and slowly look at the wonderful picture that the sacred writer is painting for you. Notice how symmetrical are the images; they are mirrored in units of four, like a kaleidoscope—one of those tubes you look through that has mirrors reflecting the colored stones in all kinds of star-like shapes.

Imagine: clothing becoming white when it is drenched in blood!  What’s amazing is that blood-stains are very hard to get out of clothing. In this case, the blood of Jesus poured out upon us inside and out makes us white.  Jesus’s blood flowed so that we could become pure white; how’s that for a miracle!    Verses 10 and 12 contain refrains that must have been really sung in the first years of the church, right after Jesus’s death and Resurrection.  Sing them to yourself—even out loud!  You are singing verses that have been sung down through the ages—right up to today, if you’re singing them!  

[Final paragraph from the original version]

The chapter begins with an awesome stillness as the winds of strife and evil are held in check. The tribulation for God’s servants comes only after they have been sealed. Nothing can harm them; nothing can harm you, if you are sealed by the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 7

Find out all about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Robed in white before the throne v. 9

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In season of Kingdomtide this year,
we read 1 and 2 Thessalonians; Revelation 4—11.

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 Psalm.

Tap for a video of Psalm 92.

[From the original version]

Allow praise and thanksgiving to be the beginning of your prayer, just as they are at the opening of this psalm. More basic than all the troubles that push and shove to get priority in your heart, is the loving-kindness of the Lord that is present to you. It is as the first light of everyday.

Rejoice with the psalmist in the glory and the power of God. The Lord sees you and your world from the perspective of the whole. God wants to share this perspective with you, along with the power of God’s love. You will see your enemies scattered before your feet as thousands of ants flee your coming.

Who have made themselves enemy to you? Pray for them that the full power of God will come upon them through you—scattering from them, the evils that beset them.

Psalm 92

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More
Example: Steadfast love in the morning v. 2

We follow a reading of the Psalms in numerical order.

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