Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Isaiah 9:2-7.

Every year at Christmastime, this passage is proclaimed. Perhaps you will hear the familiar ecstatic music of Handel’s “Messiah” echoing within you. Sway with joy as these verses forever imbed themselves against every dark and malicious enemy. Meditate upon the five names given to the Messiah. Say and sing them repeatedly during the course of this day, which the Lord has made.

Verse 8 begins to describe the judgment against Israel, referred to at the beginning of this section as “Jacob.” Israel, the northern kingdom with its ten tribes, has sinfully conspired against Judah in the south. Samaria, the capital of the key tribe of Ephraim, would be destroyed.

It is said that Handel wrote the entire Messiah in three weeks, with times of ecstasy lifting him throughout. The Holy Spirit will do something wonderful for you as well, as the “Wonderful Counselor,” Christ, is born in you.

Isaiah 9

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the seasons of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Isaiah 1-13.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Waiting and hoping in You v. 17

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.

Countless numbers of communities across the earth encounter this passage today in worship. As soon as Jesus begins his ministry, he calls others to be with him. Just as the Alphabyte “Ice Dancing,” Jesus chooses not to “skate” alone, but rather to dance with others.

Take a place alongside these simple fishermen as Jesus calls them to be his disciples. Three of them would become his closest friends—Peter, James, and John. Perfect they were not. One would deny Jesus; two would become obsessed by positions of privilege in the new kingdom; all three would sleep during Jesus’s greatest moment of anguish in the garden.

God places a call upon you. Do not deny the call, be self-centered or sleep during it. Jesus will teach you how to dance with him.

Matthew 4:12–23

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: I leave all and follow You. v. 19

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year A, we generally read from the Gospel of St. 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 Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Exodus 10:21-29.

The eighth plague envelopes Egypt with locusts so severe, that the land is darkened. Crops are destroyed. Then the sun itself is darkened in the ninth plague. No one can be seen, but miraculously, there is light in the dwellings of the children of Israel.

The Egyptians revered Pharaoh as an incarnation of the sun god Amon-Ra. The Lord God of the Israelites is again revealed as more powerful than the gods of Egypt. Picture in your mind the total darkness and the lights glowing from the homes of the Israelites. God is with them and with his presence, comes a light that shines.

Jesus is the light of the world. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Come to your center. The light of faith shines within. Trust its glow.

Exodus 10:1—11:3

This is the first of three parts of the Torah Portion Bo (Come)
Conservative and Reform Jewish congregations read only this part this year,
as also in this Bible plan.
Here is the entire portion in all three parts.

Exodus 10:1—13:16

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Your light aglow within me 10:23

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