Prioritize Time to Listen!

Jeremiah 37

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, May 3.

The key to good communication is the ability to listen. If you are always talking and never listening, then you will never know another person. We must listen to the one we seek to understand, which is why God gave us two ears and one mouth. As James 1:19 teaches, “But everyone must be quick to hear.” In our spiritual disciplines, we must listen to God’s Word because He desires for us to know Him. That happens primarily through Bible intake through a daily reading or listening plan, but it also comes through the life of following Jesus, called Christian discipleship. If you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus, you must prioritize listening to Him!

Often people treat God like a cosmic vending machine. They really don’t want to get to know Him; they just want something from Him. Such people are always asking, but never listening. Their religion is yet another way to cope with or control their world. We see an example of this in Jeremiah 37:1-3:

Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord which He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf.”

Zedekiah was willing to ask the prophet to pray on their behalf, but he was not willing to listen to God’s Word. There was no relationship, only his ambition to use God, and no one likes to be used!

Seize the moment and prioritize listening to God today! Mark your calendar with the times of your daily transformative practices of Christian discipleship.

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Invest in Intentional Relationships!

Jeremiah 36

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, May 2.

Moses had Joshua. Elijah had Elisha. Jesus had the Twelve. Paul had Timothy, and he exhorted him in 2 Timothy 2:2, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Life is hard and it’s not meant to be done alone. We are better together because the Kingdom of God is a relational kingdom. Who are the intentional people in your life who are strengthening your spiritual vitality and focusing your resolve to live on mission for Jesus?

Jeremiah had Baruch, and today’s chapter demonstrates what an important relationship it was to the prophet and his ministry. Although we caught a glimpse of Baruch previously in Jeremiah 32:12, it was not until Jeremiah 36:4-8 that we see his essential role as the prophet’s scribe and partner in the ministry:

Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted; I cannot go into the house of the Lord. So you go and read from the scroll which you have written at my dictation the words of the Lord to the people in the Lord’s house on a fast day. And also you shall read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities. ….” Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

We learn from Jeremiah’s ministry that none of us were designed to do life alone. You can’t accomplish the ministry God has for you all be yourself.

Seize the moment and do life together – invest in intentional relationships with people who strengthen your spiritual vitality and focus your resolve to live on mission for Jesus!

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Give Your Family a Faith Legacy!

Jeremiah 35

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, May 1.

Have you ever used a well-known example from history to make your point? Of course you have, we all do this, and that is what the prophet was doing in Jeremiah 35. He contrasted the people’s duplicity from the previous chapter, with the faithfulness of the Rechabites, who refused to violate their founding father’s commands. To understand the zeal of the Rechabites, you need to understand the origin story of their founder, Jehonadab the son of Rechab, from 2 Kings 10:15-17:

Now when [Jehu, king of Israel] had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. He said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” So he made him ride in his chariot. When he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to Elijah.

Jehonadab continued with Jehu to destroy the temple of Baal and massacre all the priests. This would have been a formative experience for him, one which set the course of his house forever, so much so that they remained faithful to God even under tremendous pressure for generations to come. His house remained tried and true, and God promised that they would never “lack a man to stand before Me always” (Jeremiah 35:18-19). How do you help your household remain faithful for generations to come?

Seize the moment and give your family a legacy worth preserving by showing them your faith in how you handle the difficult circumstances today.

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Day 1504

As Reliable as the Sunrise!

Jeremiah 33

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 29.

If the sun didn’t rise, life would come to an end. God has put signs in the sky to demonstrate His faithfulness. Twice God referenced this truth to His people in Jeremiah 33, at a time when His people were on the verge of destruction:

1. Verses 20-22,

2. Verses 25-26,

Do you trust that the sun will rise tomorrow just as it has every other day of your life? I do because I trust God’s faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23-24). Not only are sunrises beautiful daily reminders of the precious gift of life, but they are also powerful daily reminders of God’s faithfulness to keep His promises. What God was saying to His people is that His faithfulness is greater than their rebellion;therefore, in the same way that they are not powerful enough to stop the established rhythms of day and night in creation, they cannot cause Him to break His covenant promises.

Seize the moment and put your faith in God’s faithfulness and not your own (Romans 8:37-39).

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Pray for Israel!

Jeremiah 32

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 26.

The land of Israel is intertwined with the ancient covenant between God and the Jews, His chosen people. At a time in Israel’s history, when Babylon had the siege works at the walls of Jerusalem, and Jeremiah had already prophesied God’s Word to surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar, God commanded the prophet to purchase a family plot from his uncle’s son; to redeem it as a prophetic sign of His covenant faithfulness to preserve the Promised Land. Economically, this made no sense, especially when it was the man who was prophesying the fall of Jerusalem who was being asked to purchase a land contract and seal it in clay pot for future posterity. In Jeremiah 32:13-15 & 42-44, God made it clear that He was using this as an illustration of His lasting covenant to maintain the boundaries of the Promised Land: 

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time. … Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them. Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes,’ declares the Lord.”

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Herald the New Covenant!

Jeremiah 31

In Jeremiah 31:31-33, the prophet heralded the New Covenant between God and His people:

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

What makes the New Covenant different is that it was to be written on the hearts of the people. When God gave the Mosaic Law, He wrote it upon stone tablets. This time He was going to do it differently. When God gave the Abrahamic Covenant, He commanded all the men to be physically circumcised as a sign of the covenant. This time He was going to do it differently. The Holy Spirit would circumcise their hearts, causing them to be sensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the One who seals the New Covenant by establishing God’s rule from within their hearts, leading them into His rest. Different from King David’s kingdom, it was no longer a nation to be ruled, because Jesus’ Kingdom transcends all geographical boundaries and human constructs. And His banner over us is love!

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Persevere in Discipline!

Jeremiah 30

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 24.

The parent takes a deep breath, saying to her teenage child as she grounds him, “Trust me, one day you will thank me for this and understand that what I am doing is for your good.” Loving parents must discipline their children, to help them reach their full potential. Truly, it is for their good, but that’s a difficult concept for children to comprehend. Solomon taught a key principle of discipline in Proverbs 19:18, “Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not desire his death.” Discipline is an activity of hope and not one of despair.

In the same way that loving parents are exhorted to discipline their children, God, our Heavenly Father, desires to lead us into His life and not punish us unto our deaths. But, to give us life we must face the consequences of our sin, so that we don’t continually return to our folly (Proverbs 26:11). In Jeremiah 30:24, the prophet proclaimed God’s perseverance to discipline Judah as a loving parent, “The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has performed and until He has accomplished the intent of His heart; in the latter days you will understand this.” Because there was still hope for their return, God disciplined them.

By God’s grace, the same is true for us today. Jesus came to restore us into a right relationship with the Father by dealing with the sin issue that keeps us separated from Him, but we can’t ignore the chastising of the Spirit regarding our sin. We must be mature adults, responding to God’s loving discipline and no longer quenching the work of the Spirit when He convicts us of our need to repent from sin, so that, we may share in His holiness (John 16:7-15; Ephesians 4:30).

Seize the moment and persevere in discipline, trusting that those who do will bear the good fruit of maturity in Christ (Hebrews 12:7-11)

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Hold on to the Promise!

Jeremiah 29

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 23.

The Lord has good plans for your life; in fact, Jeremiah 29:11 promises, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’” This is one of the greatest promises of the Bible, but it must be read in its historical context if we are going to have the faith to hold on to God through our darkest days. It was given at a time when most of the people wanted God’s messenger locked up and shut up. Interestingly, this significant promise is bookended by the punishment of two false prophets for contradicting Jeremiah – Hananiah (Jeremiah 28:15-17) and Shemaiah (Jeremiah 29:30-32). During international turmoil, national division, cultural decay, and religious bankruptcy, God did not forsake His people. Quite the opposite, in Jeremiah 29:5-11, He sent His promise to the exiles in Babylon to give them hope, but also with the expectation that they would return to covenant faithfulness:

“‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’ … For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.