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Protecting the Vineyard

Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and Mark 12:1-12.

[From the original version of the book]

 A hedge protects; be aware of this as you read today’s parable. Evil powers break into the Lord’s sacred vineyard. This is what happened on Calvary, yet not without the Lord’s permission.

Love is vulnerable. Jesus does not protect himself from the onslaught of destructive forces. Yet his love is stronger than evil, stronger than death, and thus the resurrection has created a hedge around a new garden, a new vineyard, a new temple, protecting us by the power of the Spirit from any evil that would further break through.

As you read the arguments and “set-ups” of the religious authorities, be sobered by this. Do not argue with the Lord; just listen and be saved. Rest in the Lord within the “hedges” of God’s protective arms.

Mark 12:1–27

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Stone rejected, cornerstone v. 10

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels. This year, we generally read
from the Gospel of Mark, this season, chapters 10 to 16.

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.

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Watch and Be Sober.

Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

[From the original version of the book]

Watch and be sober—two imperatives in Paul’s admonition today. The Greek root of the word for “watch” is egeiro, whence comes the name, Gregory. The image recalls the security guards of old who stayed up for three hours at a time during a night watch, making sure that no enemies would sneak across the boundary. The root means “to gather together” the senses into a wakeful whole. The notion is linked with being sober, the absence of which shatters and scatters the focus and attention needed to live the realities of the final words of Paul in this letter.

Listen carefully. Is the Spirit sweetly convicting you of anything? The Lord gives you the gift of discernment. Treasure it. Watch and be sober.

1 Thessalonians 5

Find out all about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: The breastplate of faith and love v. 8

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In season of Kingdomtide this year,
we read 1 and 2 Thessalonians; Revelation 4—11.

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.

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Confident Prayer – Recorded

Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and the Psalm.

Tap here for a video on Psalm 86.

[From the original version of the book]

My first encounter with this Psalm was a young person in a religious community. Martin Neylon, Master of Novices, shared this prayer with me, calling it his favorite psalm. I can still hear the tender regard he had for it, even as the psalm itself breathes a sweet relation between the pray-er and the Lord.

The psalm implies a deep level of communion with the psalmist and the Lord. He presumes much, because he knows in faith upon whom he can rely. This same God of tender compassion is available for you right now. Do not let anything stand between you and the Lord.

The Bible is God’s intimate Word for you. Take each word personally. May these daily “Firestarters” be my way of making the Bible personal to you, just as others did for me.

Psalm 86

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More
Example: Incline Your ear and answer v. 1

We follow a reading of the Psalms in numerical order.

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