Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” Hosea 2:1-8; 14-15.

A spiritual wilderness of emptiness and loneliness is the perfect place for the Lord to comfort you with the Word. Note the shift that takes place half way through this chapter, moving from the pain and grief of God as of a husband of an outrageously unfaithful wife, to the luring, seductive words of the husband calling the wife to true love and fidelity.

If you have been seeking other “spouses” for your soul, there will come a time when nothing will satisfy you and you will know it. This is wilderness. Only here can you come to know the joy of the oasis of God’s presence. You will experience for yourself the words of Augustine: “You have made us for Yourself, O God: and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”

Hosea 2

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…

Example” Lured by You to wilderness v. 14

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In this season we read Hosea; in the 9th week, we read Lamentations 3.

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.

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

The Pharisees commit the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, accusing Jesus of healing by the power of Satan. In their spiritually stubborn position, they paint themselves into a corner with no escape.

It is very hard to commit this great sin, but there are smaller versions of it that can undermine your spirit, such as living as though you are Number One instead of God.

You will notice many kinds of demons that Jesus had to cast out. Not only were there ones of disease and infirmity, but there were those who dominated the spiritual realm in envy, pride, and blasphemy. Even Jesus’s own family, who know him from the beginning, thought he was out of his mind. They “over-knew” Jesus on one level and refused to see him as the Anointed One of God.

For you: who is Jesus?

Mark 3:20-35

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…

Example: Your power at work in me v. 27

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

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.

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Numbers 2:1-9.

Who is at the center of your life? We live in a society that has a high degree of self-centeredness. “Doing my thing,” is a byword these days. The book of Numbers will give you a new perspective.

Place yourself as part of a family of one of the tribes of Israel. You are part of this great nation camped around the presence of the Lord. The tabernacle of God’s presence is what is center, not the lives of any one person, or any group. Alas, when the people sinned, it was because they forgot the Lord as their center.

You are the tabernacle, the temple of the Lord. May God’s presence radiate from your center to all those surrounding you in your life.

Numbers 2:1—3:13

This is the second of three parts of the Torah Portion, Bemidbar (In the Wilderness) 
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 1:1—4:20

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Serving from the inner tent 3:8

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.