Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and the reading.

This is the first time that Jesus predicts his Passion. He hears the anointed confession of Peter given the gift of knowing that Jesus is the Christ. Yet Peter is not ready to hear about the suffering of his Christ. Having just received a new name, he gets another: “Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Peter is shaken up—and needs to be. And you: do you shrink from following Jesus when you see him carrying a cross ahead of you and when he asks you to take up yours? Take it up. Do not stand with it. Carry it forward.

Think of the ashes again. What you make alone does not go with you into eternal life, but only what God makes through you. “How do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?”

Mark 8:31–38

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Saving life by losing life v. 35

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.

Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and Exodus 28:36-38.

There is much concern in the world with what one wears. One has to look good. While this can be only a worldly principle, there is a truth that the Lord had in mind by ordering such detail about the clothing of Aaron and the priestly family of God’s people. They were a very special sign of the presence of God at work in others. That which is physically the closest to any person is the clothes worn. The sacramental quality of the clothes was thus a reminder of the closeness of the Lord.

Paul has this in mind when the clothing he encouraged Christians to wear are the inner virtues flowing outward that make God known to others—tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Col. 3:12). Engrave on your heart the phrase engraved on Aaron’s gold: “Set apart as Holy to the Lord.”

Exodus 28:31—29:18

This is the second of three parts of the Torah Portion Tetzaveh (And You Shall Command) 
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.

Ex. 27:20—30:10

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Set apart—holy to You 28:36

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

Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and John 7:37-43.

 In John’s Gospel, Jesus makes appearances at the three major Jewish feasts—Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. For John, Jesus completes the deepest meaning of these feasts. In this chapter, Jesus secretly goes up for the Feast of Tabernacles, called Sukkot in Hebrew—the harvest festival, around mid-October, recalling the times when the people would set up tents in the fields as they gathered in the crops. It also brings to mind the temporary dwellings of God’s people as they journeyed through the wilderness.

The last day of Sukkot, is a feast called Simchat Torah, “The Joy of the Torah.” The Torah readings are completed and the cycle begins again. At this service, prayers for rain are said. In Jesus’s time, each day of The Feast of Tabernacles, water was brought, recalling the water from the rock in Exodus 17. “He who believes in me … out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Come to your Rock and drink.

John 7

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: The thirsty drinking from You v. 37 

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the Seasons of Lent and Easter this year we read the Gospel of John.

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.