Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Ezra 8:21-23.

One would think that after the return to the way of life of their ancestors, God’s people would settle down and finally obey the Lord. Wrong! Just as happened soon after the Temple of Solomon was constructed, God’s people wander from the ways of the Lord.

Ezra is a model for intercessors. Without finger pointing, as a true priest, he represents the people before the Lord and expresses the sins of intermarrying as though they were his own personal sins. Jesus did the same. For our sake, “He who knew no sin, [became] sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Ezra desires to lift the people to God. This kind of prayer moves God. In Jesus’s name, pray the same way.

Ezra 8—10

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Gracious hand of God on me 8:18

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the Easter Season this year we read Proverbs 17 – 19 and Ezra.

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 Ezekiel 32:16-19.

Using the image of a ship, as Ezekiel did in the case of Tyre, he prophesies the destruction of ancient Egypt. Another ancient power will come against Egypt, Assyria, likened to a great cedar tree. Chapter 32 is a lamentation for Pharaoh and Egypt as poetically powerful pictures describe the downfall of this formerly strong nation.

God is in charge of all the nations. They will rise and fall in their own manipulative power. Only those nations truly dedicated to the Lord will have a power that cannot be taken away from them. It means living in the Kingdom of God and not in the kingdom of the world. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom with roots sunk deep in the earth right now.

As you pray, feel the divine Kingdom of which you are a special citizen. Pray for this hurting world.

Ezekiel 31—32

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the Season of Easter this year we read Ezekiel 17-32.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Praying for this hurting world

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 reading.

The traditional day for the Ascension is last Thursday. The Lord has returned to heaven, completing the Father’s will in dying and rising for us, sitting at the right hand of God. Now the Spirit can come in complete measure.

The Gospel gathers the mystery of the Lord together in the moment of Ascension, also described in the opening chapter of the Book of Acts. There is one final instruction: “Wait in the city till you are clothed with power from on high.”

Luke’s Gospel ends as it began—in the Temple. From the lonely, aged Zechariah in the Holy of Holies, to the New Community raised by Jesus, the Temple is the place of God’s praise and glory. However, what is about to happen in the Holy Spirit is that the community itself becomes the temple, the place of God’s presence. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 24:44–53

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Returning to life in joy v. 52

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.

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.