The Call for Divine Protection!

Psalm 17

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

Who do you turn to when you come under attack? David needed God’s protection from his enemies. In Psalm 17:12, he made this familiar comparison, “[My enemy] is like a lion that is eager to tear, and as a young lion lurking in hiding places.” Peter made a similar comparison to the true enemy of our souls, in 1 Peter 5:8, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” How did David respond to the enemy? He called to God for divine protection in Psalm 17:7-8 and 15:

Wondrously show Your lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand from those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings. … As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.

You can follow David’s example by calling to God according to James 4:7, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” People want the authority to rebuke the devil, or the power to defeat their enemies – they want the benefits of God, but are they willing to meet the requirements of God for His divine protection? You must submit to God before you will find refuge at His right hand. The surest protection you have from a prowling lion is to find a safe place where it can’t get to you. There is no safer place than in a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ – take refuge from your enemies by submitting your life to God’s authority! God is your Savior, seek Him first (Matthew 6:33)!

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 17, meditating upon where you are finding your security in this life. Submit to God and find refuge at His right hand.

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.

Today’s song focus will be

Blessed Be The Name

 Psalm 72:18-19 (NASB95)          

“ Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.”

Taking a song and using part of its lyrics to create a new song is nothing new. In fact there is a current song that takes the titles of several hymns and create a new song of worship (Check out “This is My Song” by North Point Worship). In 1888, Ralph Hudson took Charles Wesley’s hymn “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing” that was written in 1739 and gave it a new spin by adding in the phrase “blessed be the name of the Lord” into the verses and creating a new chorus.  William Kirkpatrick wrote the new accompaniment for this hymn that has been in the Baptist hymnbook ever since.

     Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!

     Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!

We need to wake up to the fact that it is not the style of the song, but the content of the words that lead us to proclaim God’s glory and majesty. So whether you are a little bit country, or a little bit rock and roll, or somewhere in between, we are all called to worship God!

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 Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:

Blessed Be the Name

Praying the Prayer Book of Jesus!

Psalm 1

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, March 7.

Are you ready to take your prayer life to the next level? My hope and prayers for you is that you will start a 150-day prayer journey through the Psalms and experience God’s blessings. Make the commitment today that you are going to open your Bible to the prayer book of Jesus, meditating upon a Psalm each day.

The Psalms are a collection of poems and songs, which have served as the prayer book of God’s people, including Jesus Christ, for three thousand years. It is my intent to help you approach each Psalm in the same way you do the Lord’s Prayer, as God’s means of grace to form your prayers through His words. This way, while your own thoughts and feelings will inform your prayers, your heart and mind will be directed by God’s Word and not your current situation.

Psalm 1 is the starting point of our prayer journey and an entry way into the theme of the book of Psalms – there is a way that leads to God’s blessing, just as surely as there is a path that leads to destruction. Psalm 1:6 clarifies, “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Jesus invited His disciples in Matthew 7:13-14 to choose the narrow way that leads to life and avoid the broad way that leads to destruction. Furthermore, Jesus identified Himself as “the way” (John 14:6) and as “the door of the sheep” (John 10:7). Jesus invites you to pray in His name and experience the blessings of God (John 14:13-14).

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 1, meditating upon the image of your roots growing deeply into the living waters of Jesus Christ (John 4:14). As you pray, may you experience the nourishment of the Spirit of God coursing into your life, making your tree stronger, and bearing fruit upon your branches (John 15:1-8).

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

The Hand of Yahweh!

Job 12

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

During Job’s lament, there is a reminder of his unrelenting faith in Job 12:9-10, “Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?” Throughout the long dialogue between Job and his friends, this is the only usage of the sacred name of God – Yahweh.

Job’s usage of Yahweh is intended to grab your attention; it points us back to Job’s declaration of faith in Job 1:21, when he used the sacred name three times, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” A commentator highlights the importance of this connection:

Job sees only the hand of God in these events. It never occurs to him to curse the desert brigands, to curse the frontier guards, to curse his own stupid servants, now lying dead for their watch-lessness. All secondary causes vanish. It was the Lord who gave; it was the Lord who removed; and in the Lord alone must the explanation of these strange happenings be sought.^[1] [emphasis added]

Job entrusts Himself and His suffering into the hand of Yahweh alone as the only explanation of cause and effect! As Job emphasizes in verse 13, “With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding.” Job’s friends were quick to blame Job’s sin for his own suffering, looking for a logical explanation that helped the world make sense to them, but Job returned to the only explanation that is always true – “the hand of the LORD has done this.”

Seize the moment and place yourself securely into God’s hand – Jesus’ promises, “no one is able to snatch [you] out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29b).

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Francis I. Andersen, Job: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 14, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976), 93.

Observe Creation to Learn about the Creator!

Job 8

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 17.

God has revealed Himself to us in nature, as Paul teaches in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” When we observe creation, we learn about the Creator.

Bildad the Shuhite, the second of Job’s three friends, responded to Job’s lament in Job 8. To do so, he called upon their ancestral teachings about God (8-10), which provided three examples from creation to describe the fate of the ungodly:

Jesus made a similar point to his disciples in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” God has made Himself known to us because He wants us to know Him and to enjoy Him forever.

Seize the moment and learn from God’s creation about the One who designed you for abundant life (John 10:10b)! As King David proclaimed in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

An Honorable Woman!

Esther 1

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

In the best of storytelling, the opening scene is crucial because it foreshadows the heart of the story, oftentimes in a subtle way that is undetectable until you know the whole story.

As we start the last history book of the Old Testament – the book of Esther, we find that the first chapter is a set up for the epic tale of an honorable Jewish woman who God placed in a position of influence, “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). In fact, the main character, Esther, for which the book is named, is not even mentioned. What you may have missed is that an honorable woman had to be deposed from her position to make room for Esther to providentially become queen.

Queen Vashti was an honorable woman! Yes, I know, she disobeyed her husband, but that was a breach of royal etiquette, not a breach of character. King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) was a powerful and prideful man who was used to getting what he wanted, so that during a seven-day drinking party, when he was “merry with wine,” “his wrath burned within him” when his queen disobeyed his dishonoring command to showcase her beauty to his leading officials (5-12).

Ultimately, the king, with the counsel of his leading men, deposed the queen, which is a necessary, but heartbreaking, set up for the story of Esther (13-22). Esther 1:19 foreshadows the climax of Esther’s honorable action as the Queen, “Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus.” Esther would breach royal etiquette and put her life in the hands of this prideful and powerful king to save a nation. God worked through two honorable women, both doing the right thing even if it meant losing their positions of influence.

Seize the moment and do the honorable thing, no matter the consequences. You never know how God is shaping a better future because you decided to take the right next step.

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

(Pastor Ken)

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.

The Gift of Joy!

Nehemiah 12

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, December 21.

Have you experienced a sad situation that was transformed by the gift of joy?

The Lord gave them joy, so they rejoiced! A situation that began with Nehemiah’s weeping and mourning over Jerusalem’s distress and shame (Nehemiah 1:1-2:10), was transformed by the gift of joy as Nehemiah led the people in celebration for not only the restoration of the walls and gates, but also of their spiritual vitality. Joy is a central expression of the people’s experience with God. Truly, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

When Paul was in chains for the gospel, he proclaimed in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Joy is a central expression of your faith in Jesus, no matter your circumstances. When Jesus faced his own death, Hebrews 12:2 describes of our Savior, “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.” Joy is a gift from God that compels God’s people to rejoice in their circumstances because we trust that God will transform them for His glory.

Seize the moment and receive “the good news of a great joy” through faith in Jesus Christ (Luke 2:10) – “in Your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11; cf. John 15:11; 16:24).

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

Whatever God’s Lot, Be Faithful!

Nehemiah 11

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, December 20.

Have you ever heard of the tooth-to-tail ratio? This is a military statistic of the number of support personnel (the “tail”) it takes to put one fighting soldier on the front line of combat (the “tooth”). In recent American history, it has been as low as 8:1 in the Iraq War. That means for every one warrior fighting on the front line, there were eight military personnel in a support role. While no one is making movies about those eight “tales,” they are the key to the effectiveness of the fighting force. The better the ratio, the better the effectiveness of the actual fighting force!

Nehemiah was an organizational genius who strengthened the lot of God’s people in Jerusalem. He did so by repopulating the city with only ten percent (a tithe) of the Israelites who lived in the area, as explained in Nehemiah 11:1-2:

Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities. And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

With the Jewish leaders already strategically living in Jerusalem, Nehemiah established a tooth-to-tail ratio of 9:1 in the repopulation efforts of the refortified capital city. For every one family that was chosen by lot to live in Jerusalem, nine other families remained behind to work their farms and continue living in their established communities. Ninety percent would remain on their lands because they would need to provide for the people who were chosen to repopulate Jerusalem. Those who stayed behind would be a necessary blessing to ensure there were enough supplies and resources to sustain those people who were on the front line of reestablishing the foothold of Israel in Jerusalem.

Seize the moment and live faithfully whatever God has given you to do!

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

May God Take Note of My Hardships!

Nehemiah 9

Do you feel seen in your suffering?

After a long review of Israel’s history of broken promises and rebellion against God, Nehemiah 9:32-33 signifies a change of emphasis in this thirty-three-verse psalm, as it transitions from a confession to a petition:

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness, do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers and on all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria to this day. However, You are just in all that has come upon us; for You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.

The petition was for God to “not let all the hardship seem insignificant” before Him. They were asking God to see them in their suffering. “The term hardships (Hb tela’ah) occurs only rarely in the OT, but it is used to refer to times of great distress or trials, such as the exodus (Ex 18:8) or Jerusalem after its destruction at the hands of the Babylonians (Lm 3:5).”^[1]

There are two practices found in this petition that we can apply to our own lives. First, we all want to have our own suffering taken seriously. People need to feel validated, especially in times of hardship and distress, which is why Hagar called God, “You are a God who sees” when He visited her as she fled from Sarai’s abuse (Genesis 16:13).

Second, the leaders and Levites took responsibility for their situation. They didn’t blame others; rather, they put themselves at the mercy of their God – “a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness” (Nehemiah 9:17).

Seize the moment and ask the “God who sees” to take note of your hardships and to forgive you of your sins (1 John 1:9).

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Carl R. Anderson, “Nehemiah,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 735.

Qualified to Lead by Faithfulness to God!

Nehemiah 7

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, December 14.

There are many qualifications for church leaders that are hotly debated in today’s world, but there is one qualification that is not being debated within any church that I know of – maturity in Christ. Paul taught in 1 Timothy 3:6, regarding the qualifications of the elders in the church, “not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.” We know Paul was not talking about age as a disqualifier because in 1 Timothy 4:16, he exhorted his protégé, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.”

People are qualified for leadership when their lives consistently demonstrate their faith in God. As Jesus taught, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Nehemiah expressed this same focus on the qualifications of leaders when he chose Hananiah to oversee Jerusalem in Nehemiah 7:2, “for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.” Qualified leaders stand out because of their faithfulness to God!

As God transplanted His people back to Jerusalem, into the good soil of the Promised Land, He used godly people like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Hananiah to lead them. Their primary task was to teach the people to fear the Lord and not return to their father’s former sins, which had caused the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile in the first place. For this reason, Nehemiah appointed Hananiah – “a faithful man [who] feared God more than many.”

If your local church was looking for new leaders to serve, would the same be said about you? Are you looking for success in the world or faithfulness to God? Are you free to lead because you fear God more than the people?

Seize the moment and live for the approval of God, until you hear Jesus say to you face-to-face, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 5:21).

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.