Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” for young people and Daniel 1:3-16.

From the version for young people

A wonderful hero and saintly person is going to be our model for Mondays during the season of autumn.  His name is Daniel, probably a teenager.  He is one of the great prophets of God’s people, someone whose whole life, in all he says and does, reflects God’s life. He’s a hero we can love.

Daniel was one of many thousands of Jewish people about six hundred years before Jesus’ birth who were captives living in the land of Babylon.  This ancient land was part of the modern country of Iraq.  Though there were no places or buildings that reminded him of God, his memories of God’s actions on behalf of God’s people were alive by faith inside Daniel.  He knew that God was with him.

In the first episode we find Daniel and three other Hebrew friends selected to become advisors at the royal court of King Nebuchadnezzar. (My goodness, a name with five syllables!)  With all the familiar reminders of God taken away, the four friends firmly decided to be aware of God’s presence by refusing to do what God had forbidden. So when it came time to eat food that was not allowed by God’s people, they just said: “No: we won’t do it!”

Look how the fidelity of Daniel and his friends to God’s ways brought them wisdom and favor with the King!  You too: the closer you live to the ways that God wants in humility and love, the more God’s grace and wisdom will be given to you.  

Here’s an idea. Picture yourself as a fifth person quietly living alongside these four wonderful young men.  They are part of what we call the Communion of Saints.  In Jesus you are one of those saints too!    

The Protection of Fidelity (Original Version)

The year is 605 B.C. The Hebrews are being taken into exile into Babylon, modern day southeast Iraq. The Lord raises up the prophet Daniel in the crisis. This is the account of this one faithful young Hebrew lad, probably a teenager.

Sense the purity of heart in this radiant man, confident in his God, faithful to the details of following the Lord. In a foreign land, these reminders will form sacred boundaries in his heart for adhering to the Lord alone. Recall the fidelity to God of the patriarch Joseph in Egypt. Fidelity and total trust in the Lord brought the Lord’s protection in the favor of the Pharaoh. The same happens for Daniel and the King of Babylon.

What can you do each day to remind you of the divine presence as you live in a world that ignores God?

Daniel 1

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Undefiled by the world. v. 8

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In this season we read the prophet Daniel.

For all the Firestarters in the original version, II 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” from the version for young people.

[From the version for young people)

Did you ever walk around with your shirt or blouse inside out and you didn’t know it?  There’s not that much difference, but then someone notices the seams around the shoulders and the tag hanging outside behind your neck.  Then again you might deliberately wear your clothes inside out as a joke.  The pockets hang like bags on the outside…the threads showing in all the seams–rather funny!

In God’s world of the Spirit, “inside out” is the way to go!  All the inner goodness that God has made within you is meant to be shown outwardly–not as though you are bragging, but rather as an inner shining of God’s goodness ad love.  It as though your own body lets the inner light of God shine through you.  

I remember as a child learning that “The eyes are the window of the soul.” Your eyes, your smile…just a few of the ways that you can send waves of peace and love to others.  Together with loving acts of kindness: these are the ways that God inside you is shared outside. 

From the original version.

With eyes of hawks, the Pharisees confront Jesus. They find him not washing their hands before eating. Jesus confronts them with Isaiah 29:13. If there is anything that God abhorred in the Old Testament, it was making a display of fervor from the outside, with nothing but frigidity within.

An instruction of Jesus follows, lest the Pharisees tempt the crowd to be impressed by their outer show. What defiles, is what comes out of a person, not what goes in. The outer is the reflection of the inner. If your heart is right with the Lord, it will mirror the divine presence; if it is not, your face will reflect only the sordid world. Do you mirror the Lord?

Mark 7:1–8,14–15,21–23

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Breathing and speaking goodness v. 14

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year B, we read from the Gospel of Mark.

Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and Deuteronomy 13:1-5.

In Biblical times, atheism was never an option; this is a modern invention. Atheism, as we know it, is simply another false religion. The atheist is committed to something approaching an absolute—some “god” that he adheres to and “worships,” as did our wandering ancestors in the desert. Then there are “theists” for whom God is nothing more than a vague reality on the margin of life.

Is there any person, place, or thing elbowing a way into your life seeking to take the place that belongs to God alone?

Deuteronomy 12:29—14:29

This is the second of three parts of the Torah Portion Reeh (Behold)
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.
Deuteronomy 11:26—16:17

Bible Breaths – Learn More…
Example: Holding fast to You alone 13:4

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 the next several weeks, the Firestarters will be from the original version of this program. For these 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.