Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Proverbs 14:1-11.

Each proverb contrasts the positive and negative examples of the first two days of this week. The opening verse is a rare proverb about the feminine. As you pray through each of the thirty-five proverbs, weigh each of their sides in the hands of your heart, as though tossing a beach ball back and forth from one hand to another. Read the proverbs slowly, pausing where you find yourself released upward by the wisdom that sets you free.

Can you put your own names to the classes and categories listed in the proverbs? Do not judge, but rather discern the people, places, and things in your life that are concrete examples of the types in the proverbs.

Write out your favorites. Place them nearby where you bump into them throughout the day for refreshing pauses. What can you do to be creative with these wise sayings that have come down to us from almost three millennia?

Proverbs 14

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Walking upright before You v. 2

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the season of Pentecost this year we read Proverbs 13 and 14 and 1 Samuel.

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 Isaiah 14:13-14; 24-27.

The three examples of salvation in yesterday’s reading are contrasted with three doomed to destruction. Babylon, Assyria, and Philistia are singled out for their unique arrogance toward God that results in their downfall.

The outcome of these three countries is the result of what Mary sings in the Magnificat: “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly” (Luke 1:52). Again with the image of the beach ball pressed down for later release, the pride that seeks to puff itself up before others, actually results in their being pressed down to death.

In this context, the fall of Lucifer is described. Tradition has linked him to Satan. Ponder the five arrogant assertions in verses 13 and 14 that begin with the words “I will.” The one whose name means “light-bearer” is plummeted into darkness.

Which is it for you—your will or God’s?

Isaiah 14

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Pentecost this year we read Isaiah 13 – 27; Lamentations 1 and 2 on the Ninth Week.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: What You design, You will do. v. 24

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 Gospel.

Three persons find themselves in Jesus’s presence—a tax collector, a bleeding woman and a dead girl. The Lord invites the first one to follow him. Like the abandoned nets of the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, Matthew drops the nets binding him to the unholy task of exacting taxes for Rome. The woman pursues Jesus, bound by a severe hemorrhage threatening her life. If only she can touch the hem of Jesus’s cloak, she will be healed. Finally, there is the young girl bound by death.

Relate with all three. Are you in a work that binds you? Are you bleeding emotionally? Is there a little child within you that has died? As a beach ball pressed beneath the surface of the water, so are each of the three until the touch of Jesus releases them to rise to the surface of the saving waters, dancing with joy and freedom in the breeze of eternal life that blows across their faces.

Matt. 9:9–13; 18–26

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Clearing my way to Jesus

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.