Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Zechariah 8:20-23.

God’s call to obedience courses through these two chapters of sermons from Zechariah. Disobedience on the part of our ancestors made them vulnerable to foreign attacks and the destruction of Jerusalem and their sacred Temple.

Just as the salvation of the one leper who returned is better than all ten healed of leprosy, so fasting and worship may be external only, never going to the heart of total obedience—that surrender which has us walk in God’s ways with our hands in God’s.

Notice what happens. Just as the ten lepers of yesterday, ten persons from every foreign nation will let go of their unfaithful ways and cling to the sleeve of a believer. Your obedience and fidelity to the Lord can prompt others to let go of the “trapeze” of their vain works and cling to the Lord by grasping the sleeve of your faith.

Zechariah 7—8

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Kingdomtide we read Habakkuk to Malachi.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: May one touching me find You. 8:23

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.

The distance that God’s people kept from lepers was as great as that between Jews and Samaritans. However, for a person to be both—that is to be an outcast, indeed. Ten lepers in misery, while keeping their distance, somehow know that Jesus is not going to pull away. They cry out for divine mercy.

The ten are healed, but nine soon forget, failing to return to give God glory and praise. We know nothing about them, but the silence invites us to wonder: did the healing last without the total trapeze-like abandon to the One who could do more than have them look good from the outside?

Surrender all outer and inner needs to Jesus. Grasp the hand of God in Jesus, as the healer and the healed become one.

Luke 17:11–19

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: I return to thank you, Lord. v. 18

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 Leviticus 23:22-28.

The Jewish calendar is grounded on three sacred feasts—Passover in the spring, Pentecost in summer and Tabernacles in autumn. Before the Temple was destroyed in the year 70 A.D., Jewish people used to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem for these festivals.

The festival of Tabernacles lasts nine days. Many believe that the pilgrims modeled their celebration of Thanksgiving after this festival. (The reading is part of Portion 31.) The tabernacles recall the tents of dwellers at harvest time as well as the Exodus in the desert.

We Christians can relate these feasts to the Triune God. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the Passover, as the descent of the Holy Spirit is Pentecost. Is there a counterpart for God the Father in Tabernacles? Curiously, we might have found it in the Transfiguration incident when Peter asked Jesus if he would allow three tabernacles to be built for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. This never takes place. Instead, Jesus resumes his normal appearance and they walk down the mountain, learning about the coming suffering and death of Jesus.

The complete fulfillment of Tabernacles is yet to occur. We are all walking the path of God that leads us more and more into the Promised Land of God’s dominion over our hearts.

Leviticus 22:26—23:44

Today this portion is read in synagogues around the world.

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Your teaching falling like rain. v. 2

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