Seize the Moment – Day 1462
Wisdom through Observation!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, March 18.
There are many ways we learn to be wise: by reading the Bible, through formal education, and from personal experience. We also learn by observing others, watching what happens to those around us, and what happened to those who came before us. Judah had an opportunity to learn from the experiences of their northern neighbor’s rebellion. Nearly a century after Israel’s judgment, Jeremiah gave this scathing rebuke against Judah in Jeremiah 3:6-10:
Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the Lord.
Judah did not learn from the mistakes of their northern cousins. Instead, they repeated their folly, playing the harlot. But God, rich in mercy, continued to pursue His people with the same call to repentance through a prophet to a new generation – repent of your adultery; come home to Me, and I will forgive you. Return to Me, and I will be faithful to you.
Seize the moment and learn wisdom through observation. Pay attention to how God has designed His creation – “whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7-8).
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.
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Everyday Discipleship Wk 9
How to Carry Your Cross!
2) Use the S.O.A.P. Bible journaling technique: Y or N
3) Pray & meditate upon the Lord’s Prayer daily: Y or N
4) Memorize the assigned Bible verses, to include last week’s memory verse of James 4:7: Y or N
5) Manage your calendar for the “Big Three” and for gathering with your church: Y or N
+ Discipleship = intentional journey and life-long commitment to learn and manifest the fruit of who I am in Christ
+ The “Big Three” = transformative practices of Bible intake, prayer intimacy, and spiritual friendships
+ Church = intentional community of disciples who are called in love, gathered for love, and sent on mission
+ Walk by the Spirit = empowered lifestyle of focused surrender
+ Walk in the easy yoke of Jesus = covenant faithfulness
+ Disciple’s Desire = “Well done, good and faithful servant”
+ Spiritual Warfare = a reality of everyday discipleship
AS A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST,
+ This is a call to discipleship. Read Luke 14:27.
+ The “cross” points to the crucifixion. Read John 19:16-30. Also in Mt 27:33-56; Mk 15:22-41; and Lk 23:33-49.
THIS IS HOW YOU CARRY YOUR CROSS
+ Philippians 2:1-11 & 3:7-14
+ Colossians 3:1-17
+ Romans 6:3-11 (cf. Colossians 2:12-14)
+ Galatians 2:20-21
+ Ephesians 4:17-32
+ Philippians 1:21-27
+ 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
+ This is the gospel of Jesus! Respond to Ephesians 2:1-10.
2) Write a SOAP journal entry for either each chapter or each day. Bring your notebook to take notes.
3) Review this handout as you prepare to read your Bible every day. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you “become” conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).
4) Memorize Luke 9:23-25 and learn how to carry your cross daily.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1460
Today’s worship song focus :
The Blessing
Numbers 6:24-26 (NASB95)
Taken from the priestly benediction of Numbers 6 and the prayerful blessing of Psalm 67, Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Steven Furtick and Chris Brown created this anthem of hope and encouragement for all believers in the spring of 2020. We are reminded of God’s faithfulness and unfailing love for us with this message of peace and assurance even in the middle of our chaos.
The Lord bless you and keep you
Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you
The Lord turn His face toward you
And give you peace
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.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ55mDL7dA0
The Blessing
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Seize the Moment – Day 1459
The Absurdity of Apostasy!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, March 15.
Judah was unfaithful to God, seeking after the gods of powerful neighbors. Their false worship through idolatry was considered apostasy, which is the forsaking of the prescribed way of worshipping God. It was for this reason that God called Jeremiah to be a prophet to Judah – to call His people out of rebellion and back into the way of covenant faithfulness. Through him, in Jeremiah 2:13, God confronted the people of their crime, “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” This is imagery built upon his predecessor’s prophetic ministry, as Isaiah stated, over a century prior, in Isaiah 55:1-3, “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; … Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.”
Covenant faithfulness is how Judah can drink from God’s “fountain of living waters.” Unfortunately, they refused to worship Him, choosing the corrupted cisterns of apostasy, directly referenced in Jeremiah 2:17-18 as the Babylonian and Egyptian empires, “Have you not done this to yourself by your forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way? But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates?” Which would prove themselves to be corrupted cisterns of counterfeit promises. This is the absurdity of apostasy – to forsake the ancient paths of eternal peace for the contemporary means of transitory power.
Seize the moment and walk in the prescribed way of Jesus Christ, the One who can rescue you from the absurdity of apostasy – “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38; cf. John 4:10-14; Revelation 22:17).
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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1458
A Timeless Call at a Specific Time!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, March 14.
In the same way that Isaiah was called at a specific time, when the Assyrian Empire sought to destroy the northern ten tribes of Israel and seize the Promised Land, Jeremiah was called at a specified time of intense suffering as the Babylonian Empire sacked Jerusalem and deported the southern two tribes of Judah. His ministry was set in a historical context, as described in the first three verses of his prophetic work:
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
As you read the prophetic books of the Old Testament, don’t forget that the prophets were real people with real faith in real history. The historical context of every single one of these books can be placed in the painful history of Israel, including the kings to whom Jeremiah prophesied (2 Kings 21-25 and 2 Chronicles 34-36). Just like Isaiah, Jeremiah had a call narrative. The God who transcends time spoke to him in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” God gave Jeremiah a timeless call to share His Word to the nations at a specific time in history, and God is doing the same with you today.
Seize the moment and share the good news of Jesus in your specific time and place today. You are a hope-bearer (1 Peter 3:15)!
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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1457
Steward God’s Plan A!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, March 13.
To fully understand Jesus’ call of discipleship, you need to understand why God made you in the first place. What is God’s Plan A, and do I have a part in it? As Isaiah comes to an end, the telos of God is clearly proclaimed in Isaiah 66:18-22:
“For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: … And they will declare My glory among the nations. Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says the Lord. “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord, “So your offspring and your name will endure. And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord.
From the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). He intentionally made a creation that would require His personal involvement and ultimate intervention, and He created stewards for it, image bearers who would reflect His glory by living under His rule (Genesis 1:26-30). This has always been God’s Plan A, and Jesus came to redeem humanity back as the trusted stewards of God’s creation – “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
Seize the moment and steward God’s creation until He makes all things new (Revelation 21-22). He has already begun His redemption so that you can fulfill His telos as His disciple (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).
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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1456
The God Who Wants to be Found!
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1455
Get off the Treadmill!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, March 11.
Are you on the treadmill of works-based religion? Do you find yourself working harder trying to please God? Isaiah 64:6-7 establishes an essential truth to our absolute need for a savior:
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.
Isaiah was referencing the Law from Leviticus 15:19-33, which speaks of the ritualistic cleansing necessary for a woman’s monthly cycle. Isaiah alluded to a natural reoccurring process that had to be atoned for to emphasize that we all are in constant need of purification. There is nothing any of us can do to keep ourselves right with God.
In fact, every attempt you make to cleanse yourself puts you in deeper need for God’s purification. That is why Jesus made the hard statement in Matthew 5:20, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus was not saying, “Work harder!” Quite the opposite, Jesus was emphasizing to His listeners the impossibility of being righteous by one’s own efforts. You absolutely need a savior because every time you try save yourself through your own righteous acts, you put yourself in further debt to the grace of God – “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:5).
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit
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Everyday Discipleship Wk 8
Everyday Discipleship with Real People
How to Do Spiritual Warfare!
Loving accountability from the first 7 sessions:
2) Use the S.O.A.P. Bible journaling technique: Y or N
3) Pray & meditate upon the Lord’s Prayer daily: Y or N
4) Memorize the assigned Bible verses, to include last week’s memory verse of Matthew 11:28-30: Y or N
5) Manage your calendar for the “Big Three” and for gathering with your church: Y or N
Review of major concepts:
+ Disciple = intentionally following Jesus’ way and teachings
+ Discipleship = intentional journey and life-long commitment to learn and manifest the fruit of who I am in Christ
+ The “Big Three” = transformative practices of Bible intake, prayer intimacy, and spiritual friendships
+ Church = intentional community of disciples who are called in love, gathered for love, and sent on mission
+ Walk by the Spirit = empowered lifestyle of focused surrender
+ Walk in the easy yoke of Jesus = covenant faithfulness
+ Disciple’s Desire = “Well done, good and faithful servant”
THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW IS
A SUPERNATURAL ONE, SO LET’S LEARN
HOW TO DO SPIRITUAL WARFARE!
Let’s look at the big picture to start.
+ Colossians 1:13-14
+ Acts 10:38
+ Matthew 17:14-21
+ Mark 5:1-20
Four Steps to Effective Spiritual Warfare
Step 1: Know there is an enemy.
+ 1 Peter 5:8-9
+ Matthew 12:43-45
Step 2: Discern/test/examine the spirits.
+ 1 John 4:1-4
+ 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
+ 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Step 3: Take cover by submitting your life to God.
+ Memorize James 4:7.
+ Acts 19:13-20
Step 4: Stand firm in your faith – the victory!
+ Ephesians 6:10-20
+ 1 John 5:1-5
+ John 16:33
Action Items for this week:
2) Write a SOAP journal entry for either each chapter or each day. Bring your notebook to take notes.
3) Review this handout as you prepare to read your Bible every day. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you “become” conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).
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Seize the Moment – Day 1453
Today’s worship song focus
Praise
Psalm 150:6 (NASB95)
“ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise 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 Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
Praise
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