Listen to Nick read the Firestarter.

The parables of Jesus are soul-experiences. Make this one especially personal. The amount is an immense sum, beyond the power to comprehend. The sense is of a great national debt.

Out debt to God is infinitely greater. Take the sin of the world in its “original” form in Adam and Eve. That offense to God has come down through the ages in an avalanche of sin in the human family. A debt has so accumulated that we simply cannot pay it, because God has been offended.

Jesus took all this sin to the cross. In that act of love, God forgave all our debt of sin. Consider this: if God has forgiven you for all that you have done, ought you not treat others, including yourself, with that same forgiveness?

Matthew 18:21–35

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: You forgive as I forgive. v. 33

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
During the Seasons of Pentecost and Kingdomtide, we read the Gospel of Matthew.

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.

Rosh Hashana means “The Head of the Year.” The spiritual feeling of the Jewish New Year is sober, quiet, and reflective, contrary to the energies in the secular New Year on January 1. The Jewish New Year occurs in autumn, a season that is “seasoned” with nostalgia and inwardness. There is a tradition that God made the world in the fall, for everything was made in its fullness. Seeds are for the next generation; God created Adam and Eve in their maturity. The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were believed to have been born on Rosh Hashana. Hence, the reading for this festival is Genesis 21: Isaac’s birthday. 

Genesis 21

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: At each moment, something new

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.

Jesus presents three powerful teachings in six verses. In the first half, he admonishes us to confront with love a brother who is doing wrong against us. In verse 18, the Lord repeats what he said to Peter about the connection between heaven and earth in binding demons and loosening them from people. The last two verses celebrate the power of “two against one,” the one in question being Satan who comes against God’s people in sickness, disease, and strife. Praying in agreement with another brings the power of the witness of two against the one source of evil. While speaking about two, Jesus adds the third teaching, in verse 20, Where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them. also rendered as “gathered in my name.”

How does your life measure itself against these standards of the Lord?

Matthew 18:15–20

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Seeking to be reconciled v. 15ff

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
During the Seasons of Pentecost and Kingdomtide, we read the Gospel of Matthew.

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.