Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the Luke 20:20-26.

The usual interpretation of this famous verse, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” is Jesus’s endorsement about paying taxes. Actually, it simply illustrates his masterful skill in dodging the malicious traps laid by adversaries.

There is something deeper happening for Jesus. Enter the divine heart and experience the gnawing pain, frustration, and sadness that are there. Here is the Caesar of all Caesars, the King of all kings, spending precious time dodging barbed questions from leaders of God’s people, instead of being able to unfold for them the Words of life.

Do you play any games with Jesus similar to those of the Pharisees? Be silent … Let Jesus do the talking and the questioning, while you listen and surrender to being a disciple.

Luke 20:1–26

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Stone rejected—cornerstone. v. 17

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the season of Kingdomtide this year we read Luke 19:28 to 24:53.

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 2 Timothy 3:1-16.

Comfort and encouragement intended for a first-century church leader, are here for you. Every passage from the Bible is loosened from its time-bound setting of “there and then,” to become “here and now” for you.

Are there trials coming against you in your life? This was the case for Timothy. Imagine the strength he received from these words of Paul, his beloved master-teacher. Is there someone in your life who loves you, challenges you, strengthens, and encourages you? There are persons called by God to be in fellowship with you; pray that you discover them. Meanwhile, may the Spirit breathing through Paul and all true teachers, teach your soul and encourage you to become a more disciplined, gentle and faithful disciple of Jesus.

2 Timothy 3—4

Find out all about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Dying for You is living. v. 11

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In the season of Kingdomtide this year we read 2 Timothy and Revelation 12—22.

For all the Firestarters in the original version, I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these Firestarters 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 Psalm 139:1-18.

Tap here for a video meditation on Psalm 139.

As I write, I sit in a dimly lit hospital room with my daughter, Laura, and her boy, Richie. He rests quietly while undergoing a brain scan. I recall that other day in 1987 when I was with Laura who was about to give birth to him.

I gaze at the long, slender body of my grandson, scanning the years from birth to this moment, admiring the constancy of God’s gift that has continued the stitching of his body and his life, long after the initial weaving was completed in Laura’s womb. It is a perfect setting to pray and write about Psalm 139, a piece that breathes the awesome wonder of the sacred writer as he contemplates his own being and praises his all-knowing and ever-present God.

The psalmist hands you a sacred thread; pick it up and let wonder weave itself within you, as steadily and permanently as the weaving of yesterday’s woman of Proverbs.

Psalm 139

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More
Example: You wove me in my mother. v. 15

We continue to read 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