Seize the Moment – Day 1228
The Focus of Meditation!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, July 28.
Meditation is a biblical way to experience God, like Bible study and prayer, but it has received a bad rap in the contemporary church. Like with the rainbow, we must never lose sight of God and what He has established in His Word (Genesis 9:9-17). Psalm 104 is a long, inspired poem praising God, meditating upon His power to create and sustain all things; it concludes in verse 34, “Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; as for me, I shall be glad in the Lord.” Spurgeon comments on this ancient practice of God’s people:
Meditation is the soul of religion. It is the tree of life in the midst of the garden of piety, and very refreshing is its fruit to the soul which feeds thereon. And as it is good towards man, so is it towards God. As the fat of the sacrifice was the Lord’s portion, so are our best meditations due to the Most High and are most acceptable to him. We ought, therefore, both for our own good and for the Lord’s honour [sic] to be much occupied with meditation, and that meditation should chiefly dwell upon the Lord himself: it should be “meditation of him.”[1]
The key to effective meditation is your focus on God, His works, and His attributes. Like David modeled for us in today’s psalm, the essential ingredient in all spiritual disciplines is not the practice itself, but God, the One on whom the praxis focuses your faith, hope, and love. As we are taught in Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 104, meditating upon God, His works, and His attributes (Philippians 4:8).
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.
FOOTNOTE:
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Seize the Moment – Day 1227
The Benefits of Belonging!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, July 27.
“Membership has its privileges” has been a common advertising slogan for a popular credit card since the 1980s. For most of us, it’s not an uncommon question to wonder, “What’s in it for me?” The same is true when people become Christians and are invited to join a local church. What are the benefits of being a member of the body of Christ? David listed the benefits of belonging to God in Psalm 103:1-5:
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Wow! Have you experienced all these benefits of belonging to God? These promises are yours in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20-22). As a Christian, you are a member of the body of Christ, and this membership is the greatest privilege that could ever be bestowed upon you; it’s the privilege of belonging to God. Paul stated in Romans 12:4-5, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” It is the Holy Spirit who compels us, in obedience to God’s Word, to enjoy the benefits of being fellow members of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12-14).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 103, meditating upon the benefits of belonging to God – “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Take active steps to connecting with your local church 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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1226
When God is All You Have!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, July 26.
Have you ever called for help in a time of great pain and suffering? That is the situation with the psalmist, but he did not have a medical care system to call upon to assist him. His only 9-1-1 was prayer to God, and his emergency call was recorded in Psalm 102:1-2, “Hear my prayer, O Lord! And let my cry for help come to You. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; incline Your ear to me; in the day when I call answer me quickly.” As you continue to read today’s psalm, you will hear his suffering as he pleaded with God for relief. Unlike our contemporary culture today, he didn’t have immediate access to modern health care; God was his only hope for healing and pain relief.
It was the psalmist’s painful awareness of his own frailty which led him to make such an urgent petition, seeking hope from God during his time of need. Pointedly, the answer he received did not change his immediate circumstance, which is why the hope of Psalm 102:25-27 was quoted in Hebrews 1:10-12 as a messianic prophecy:
Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; and all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 102, meditating upon the living hope of Jesus Christ, in whom you can rejoice even when you are “distressed by various trials” (1 Peter 1:3-9). Pain does not have the last word, so train yourself to not let it consume your thoughts or hijack your life. When God is all you have, He is all you will ever need!
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 1225
Worship God by Obeying God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, July 25.
Whereas Psalm 100 is a psalm of thanksgiving to the God who is faithful to all generations, Psalm 101 is a commitment to act faithfully as one of God’s people. It is empty praise indeed when your life doesn’t reflect the God you say you worship! The truest form of worship is obedience, as we learned from Samuel’s rebuke of King Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”
Honestly, reading Psalm 101 right after 100 feels like whip lash, but both psalms reflect God’s heart. We serve a God who is full of truth and grace, and one cannot be compromised for the sake of the other! God calls us to a life of devotion, which is more than a devotional life; it is the wholehearted pursuit of holiness. Psalm 101:1-3 teaches us about true worship:
I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, to You, O Lord, I will sing praises. I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me.
Your life sings God’s praises best when your Monday through Saturday words and deeds align with your Sunday worship. Jesus was clear to His disciples, saying without equivocation in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” The purest expression of worship is obedience!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 101, meditating upon the proof of your love for Jesus Christ – “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-27). Obey 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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1224
Faithful to All Generations!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, July 24.
God is faithful to all generations! As I care for the older members of the congregation I serve, I do so with thanksgiving in my heart for the legacy of faith they have passed down to the next generation. From my perspective, apart from God’s faithfulness through them there would be no church for me to pastor. God uses people in every generation to demonstrate His faithfulness. We need to stop our incessant busyness and take time to thank the people from our families, churches, and communities who have been faithful in their generation to pass on their legacy of faith, hope, and love.
I have been on pastoral staff at two churches, and both times I helped the church celebrate their centennial. Both times, the theme verse came from today’s psalm, specifically Psalm 100:4-5, which proclaims, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.” When a congregation looks back over a hundred years of gospel ministry, there is only one right emotion – thankfulness to the God who is faithful to all generations! How does a church make it to their centennial? From my experience, it takes faithfulness – His and ours! Who are the faithful people who have come before you? Thank them! Who are the faithful people in your generation? Be one of them and pass it on to the next generation of faithful followers of Jesus (2 Timothy 2:2)!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 100, meditating upon the faithfulness of God to all generations, giving thanks for all He has done in your family, church, and community. Take time today to reach out to an older person and tell them thank you for being faithful. Send a card. Make a phone call. Go and visit. Be faithful!
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:
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Legacy vs. Notoriety
Legacy vs. Notoriety
INTRODUCTION:
With all the modern technology that we have today, it is easy to see how a person could become famous overnight. They could easily gain notoriety, but all too often become notorious. They also have a choice to become a legend or leave a legacy.
When you get notoriety, the documentation starts that puts into words the type of person you are. And depending on who is writing the story will depict how much of it is fact or if it is fabrication to make the story more interesting. (Look at all the stories in the tabloids)
The problem with becoming a legend is once again the stories may have been ‘enhanced’ to make them more exciting. The dictionary defines a legend as “a story coming down from the past, especially one popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable.”
Since Pastor Jerry has started this new series based on Hebrews 11, we have seen those in the Bible whom the world would call notorious and legendary. But we know them to be notable for leaving a legacy. A legacy is defined as “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or from the past.” This Faithful Hall of Fame roster shows us men and women who were by no means perfect, but rather chose to live a life of faithfulness to God, leaving a legacy for us to see today.
or the time he got drunk and his sons found him naked?
becoming the “father and mother” of a nation,
or the time they lied to a King about their relationship?
The list could go on and on from other examples in the Bible, but I want to bring this to how it applies to us today. While our names may not appear in the holy scriptures, we are told multiple times that we are to live out our lives to bring glory to God in all we say and do.
Psalm 112:1-2
Praise the Lord! How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands. Their children will be successful everywhere; an entire generation of godly people will be blessed.
We are given the strategy for a life of legacy right here in this Psalm. But this is not something that comes naturally to us. We must put God first in every area of our lives.
That can be accomplished by doing the following:
- Cultivate the soil of our hearts: by delighting in God’s Word and His commands. (Psalm 1:1-3; Psalm 37:4-5)
- Sow good seeds into the lives of our families and others: with our testimonies. (Psalm 78:4; Psalm 145:4-7)
- Care for the crop of our future legacy: with proper instruction and setting the example by serving and blessing others. (Deut. 6:5-7; Philippians 4:9; 1 Peter 4:10)
- Reap a harvest of blessing: for generations to come. (Psalm 78:6-7)
Legacy building begins when we:
Psalm 1:1-3
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
- Keep Christian music playing all day.
- Start and end your day by reading a scripture, maybe even memorizing it.
- Share with family or someone else how God had encouraged you that day.
Psalm 37:4-5
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.
- No longer selfish “what we want”
- We find new found freedom as we fully trust in the Lord.
Psalm 78:4
We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.
- Consider keeping a journal for both you and others to read.
- Send out a text, email or notecard to family and friends of what God had been doing in your life.
- Give a testimony in church of how God has been transforming your story.
Psalm 145:4-7
Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles. Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy about your righteousness.
- Share the story..be a storykeeper.
- Sing with joy (testimony in song) and praise Him forever!
Deuteronomy 6:5-7
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.
- Words matter, because they reveal what’s in your heart.
- Along with teaching the truths of God, you need to use and live these words as well:
- I Love You (John 15:9)
- I Am Sorry (James 5:16)
- I Forgive You (Colossians 3:13)
*Forgiveness is more about freeing yourself that it is about freeing others.
Philippians 4:9
Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
1 Peter 4:10
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
- This is the example that Jesus gave us
- He told the disciples
- He showed the disciples
- He had them go out in pairs and practice then come back with a report
- He sent them out with the power of the Holy Spirit.
- We are all to use our gifts to serve others
What is the outcome?
Psalm 78:6-7
So the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.
Conclusion:
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Seize the Moment – Day 1222
Today’s hymn focus will be
Word of God Speak
1 Corinthians 2:12-13 (NASB95)
“And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know
the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things,
we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak
words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual
truths.”
Written in the summer of 2002, Bart Millard of MercyMe and the band were working at a church camp in Jekyll Island, Georgia while also working on their second album. He was feeling frustrated, feeling like all of the new songs sounded the same. He remembers waking up at 3 am with the first verse and the chorus on his heart and wrote them in a journal and went back to sleep.
It wasn’t until a few weeks later as they were wrapping up the album that they realized they needed one more song. A “nagging feeling” took him back to his journals where he found the song. Like “lightning in a bottle”, God gave him the rest of the song and they recorded that song with just piano and strings.
I’m finding myself at a loss for words
And the funny thing is, it’s okay
We need to wake up to the fact that our quiet time with God needs to be more than just a one-way conversation. We need to be silent and listen to what God is trying to tell us. Let Him get a word in edgewise, for it may be just what you need!
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:
Word of God Speak
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Seize the Moment – Day 1221
Right Worship of the Holy God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, July 21.
What does it mean that God is holy? Psalm 99:1-3 exalts God with magnificent terms, “The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; holy is He.” When we say that God is holy, we are saying God is separate from and distinctly different from all things. He transcends all human understanding!
What does it look like then to give God right worship? We are commanded in verse 5, “Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool; holy is He.” While we exalt a God who is beyond us, transcendent in all His glory, we worship a God who has chosen to make Himself known to us so that we may have a relationship with Him. This was exemplified in verses 6-7, “Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel was among those who called on His name; they called upon the Lord and He answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept His testimonies and the statute that He gave them.”
It is mind blowing to me that God been given an unholy humanity access to what is by definition inaccessible to us. How is right worship even possible? The answer is found in a single word: Love! God so loved the world that He stepped through the veil, entering His creation to forever give us access to His transcendent glory. When you access God through the prescribed way of Jesus Christ, God gives you His righteousness, calling you one of His holy ones – eternally sealing you with His transcendent glory, the Holy Spirit!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 99, meditating upon the holiness of God – “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3; cf. Revelation 4:8).
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 1220
God Loves the Nations!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, July 20.
God loves the nations! Yet, throughout history, people have used the Bible to support their exclusion of the other. It happened in our nation when theology was used to support our evil practice of slavery. It happened in South Africa to undergird Apartheid. The truth is that neither of these atrocities fit within God’s vision to bless all the nations with His salvation, as Psalm 98:3-4, and 9 declare:
He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. … Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.
God is the King over every nation and desires to bring all people under His rule. While His faithfulness came first to the house of Israel, intending them to be a conduit of blessing for all the families of the Earth (Genesis 12:3). While His favor now rests upon the church, purposing for us to bring the good news to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). Revelation 7:9 captures the heart of God for the nations, as proclaimed to Israel in Psalm 98, and as fulfilled by Jesus Christ:
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 98, meditating upon the far-reaching invitation of God’s salvation – “I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). Who can you embrace with the gospel 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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1219
Show Me Your Glory!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, July 19.
Kimberly and I have a goal to visit every national park in our nation. From the soaring peaks of the Rocky Mountains to the hidden depths of the Grand Canyon, we want our children to see and experience the beauty of their homeland. Throughout history, God has revealed His glory to His children so that people may see and experience Him, as Psalm 97:2-6 explains:
Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about. His lightnings lit up the world; The earth saw and trembled. The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory.
A theophany is a manifestation of God; it is when God chooses to appear to people in a way they can discern. It is when God reveals His glory in a tangible way so that the people can see and experience His awesomeness.
Theophanies in the Bible usually are accompanied by physical signs: earth shaking or quaking, a cloud, fire or other visible means of display. For example, when God appears to Moses in a burning bush (Ex 3) or when the prophet Micah announces that God is coming and that the mountains will melt and the valleys will burst open (1:4). A theophany shows God’s power and involvement in the world, …[1]
When you pray for God to show you His glory, you are praying for a theophany – a tangible manifestation of His power and involvement in your life, and in the situations you need His presence.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 97, meditating upon the glory of God, forever revealed to humanity through Jesus Christ – “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).
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.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Arthur G. Patzia and Anthony J. Petrotta, Pocket Dictionary of Biblical Studies (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 116.
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