Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the Gospel.

Though the lawyer’s question lacked the sincerity needed to show hunger for Jesus’s answer, may this not be so for you. Pray over the question, until your heart throbs for the answer. Only then will you not be as the priests in the parable who lost the chance to know their God in a new way.

The word neighbor in English means “the boor who is neigh.” The original meaning of “boor,” however, was not an insult as it is today; it simply meant another peasant farmer who lived nearby.

The issue for Jesus is not the one who is near you, but rather the one to whom you come near. Who are the ones in your life from whom you pull away because you do not like them—boors in the bad sense of the word … or maybe just bores? Underneath, there is a hurting, wounded soul needing the bandages of your love.

Luke 10:25–37

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Pouring oil on wounds of heart v. 34

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year C, we generally read from the Gospel of St. Luke.

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 Numbers 24:15-17.

With each successive prophecy, the pagan Balaam becomes more sweetly open to God, simpler, more childlike as he yields to the promptings of the Spirit. He is completely caught up in the prophetic word he speaks. His yielding opens his eyes to behold the beauty of God’s people, as he sees the tents of the people of God.

In the center of his fourth and final prophecy, Balaam sees a star coming out of Jacob, lifting him to a vision that is realized in David, and especially in Jesus. When you turn your heart totally over to the Lord, God will show you wondrous things.

Verse 1 of chapter 25 begins the shocking story of sexual immorality with foreign women. The exalted state of a pagan yielding to the gift of prophecy, is contrasted with the sin of infidelity by God’s own people.

Numbers 24:1—25:9

This is the third of three parts of the Torah Portion Balak
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.
Numbers 22:2—25:9

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Heart yielding; visions coming

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

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Luke 12: 22-34.

Four New Testament writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul each find in the image of yeast or leaven, a way to describe spiritual realities, positive and negative. It is sometimes used as an expression of the Kingdom rising as dough; in this context, it is the wicked yeast of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees that works its way into the mass of the community and damages it.

The word hypocrisy originally meant to act a part in a play. Literally it means “to judge beneath.” It came to have a negative meaning, a hidden agenda, beneath the false front that someone presents.

Just a little bit of leaven changes the whole mass. So here, only a tiny bit of hypocrisy blocks that honesty needed to reveal the Lord’s presence through your own transparency. Divide this powerful chapter into sections and let the leaven of the Word transform your day.

Luke 12

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Where my treasure, there my heart v. 34

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the season of Pentecost this year we read Luke 9—19:27.

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.