Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and 2 Samuel 18:9-18;31-33.

The treason against David reminds me of the same against Jesus on the part of Judas. Absalom, part of David’s family, betrays his father, and wants the power of the kingdom to fall to him. Judas, one of Jesus’s apostles, betrays his Lord. Just as Absalom, Judas does not like the way the lines of power in Jesus’s Kingdom are being drawn. The fates of Absalom and Judas are similar—hanging from a tree. The grief of David over the fate of his son is similar to the grief that Jesus must have felt for Judas’s betrayal and the way he ended. The prayer of David, “If only I had died in your place,” is fulfilled in Jesus who died in your place and mine, so that our sin would not do to us what Absalom’s and Judas’s did to them. The tree, upon which Jesus hung in agony, became a new tree of life.
Spend time praising the Lord for the extent of his love for you. How much more can you yet respond?

2 Samuel 16—18

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Jesus died instead of me.

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the season of Kingdomtide this year we read Proverbs 15-16, 2 Samuel and Ecclesiastes 1-4.

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 Isaiah 37:14-20.

Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, was once asked how long it would take him to recover if the Pope were to suddenly dissolve the new religious order Ignatius had founded. His answer: “About fifteen minutes.” He was speaking from experience. He had heard one time that a cardinal, who had opposed the Jesuits, had himself become Pope. Ignatius said that his knees shook. He went into the chapel to pray. Fifteen minutes later he emerged—his face radiant.

Hezekiah’s hands must have shaken when he read the threatening letter of King Sennacherib. Then he placed this letter before the Lord in the Temple. The small piece of material which contained all those threats must have seen small in comparison to the vastness of the Temple and of God who was especially present there; Hezekiah must have felt peace.

We do not know how long it took Hezekiah to recover, but I like the fifteen minutes it took Ignatius. Today’s verse 16 will help you rebound from your fears: “You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.“

Isaiah 37:1–20

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Kingdomtide this year we read Isaiah 28 – 39.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Bearing each others’ burdens v. 4

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 the reading.

In the trial scene of the play and movie by Richard Bolt, “Man for All Seasons,” Thomas More breaks the silence he had previously kept while striving to be both faithful to God and loyal to the King, Henry VIII of England. When he is finally convicted and sentenced to death, he declaims the evil of putting temporal before eternal law.

In a similar way, Jesus denounces the scribes and Pharisees in his last words to them. He pours out his anger upon those who had relentlessly opposed the grace of the Good News.

Be moved by the grief of Jesus as he laments over Jerusalem in the last three verses. He then departs forever from the Temple. Jesus doesn’t want to depart from your spirit, his temple. Is there anything you are doing that is driving Jesus away

Matthew 23:1–12

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Bearing each others’ burdens v. 4

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.