Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and the Gospel reading.

Jesus quotes from the first half of the Jewish Shema which pious Jews repeat twice daily (Deut. 6:4–5). After many questions on the part of the scribes, Sadducees and Pharisees, Jesus now takes the offensive. He presents a dilemma, forcing his listeners to face the question of how the Messiah would come to be. They are finally rendered speechless.

Life poses many questions about how, when or even whether God is intervening or not. There needs to come a moment when questions are silenced by the very presence of the Lord, perhaps by further questions, such as those posed to Job. God’s questions reduce Job to silence. They remind him about how incapable he is to dominate questions for which the Lord alone has answers.

Ponder these words of the song of Scott Wesley Brown: “When answers aren’t enough—there is Jesus.”

Matthew 22:34–46

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Surrendering to silence v. 46

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 and Matthew 25:31-46.

This is the last chapter in Matthew’s Gospel before the Passion of Jesus. It consists of two parables and the description of the final judgment. They are as three murals that fill the wall of a great hall. Your imagination will creatively continue the stories and the images before you.

If there is one word that gives unity to the three scenes, it is responsibility. Take the word in the sense of “being responsive.” The wise virgins, the persons with five and three talents, and those at the final judgment who were compassionate to the needy—each of these were responsive to the demands and the details of the presence of Jesus as Bridegroom, Master, and Son of Man. 

Meditate on where you find yourself in each of these stories, noting the changes needed in your responsiveness—before it is too late.

Matthew 25

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Done for th’ least, doing for You v. 45

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the season of Kingdomtide this year we read Matthew 19 to 28.

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 Matthew 24:1-14.

The Good News is not reserved to every other chapter of the Gospels but this one! Greater than the disasters predicted, is the presence of the Lord to those who remain faithful to him. What comfort in this fact! Paul would later exult in Romans 8: 35: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” When you experience a resounding “NO ONE” in the depths of your being, then the peace of the Lord will well up from within.

Do not fail to catch the significance of the first verse of the reading. “Jesus departed from the Temple.” Never again would Jesus enter the physical temple. When he left it, so did the Holy Spirit. Evil rushes into the vacuum left when Jesus is not there. Adhere ever more closely to him. Remember: you are a living stone—part of the new temple.

Matthew 24

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Your words not passing away v. 35

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the season of Kingdomtide this year we read Matthew 19 to 28.

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.