Seize the Moment – Day 612
Leaders are not the Point!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, November 19.
Do you get distracted by the personalities and preferences of your leaders?
The orders to conquer the Promised Land were given in Numbers 33 and the boundaries of conquest were established in Numbers 34:1-15. It is time to call forth the tribal leaders who will execute the commands of God.
The Hebrew word for leader means “one lifted up” and denotes a chieftain, sheik, or ruler. A leader is a person lifted above the rest!
Every tribal leader in this list, except for Caleb, although strategically placed by God for this critical time, is a once-mention in the Bible. These leaders served as great military leaders, city planners, religious overseers, and community organizers in a time of great leadership need, but they will never be mentioned by name again.
Why? Because leaders are never the point! The leaders are “lifted up” to lead, not to be celebrated!
God gives leaders to His people to play their part in seeing God’s will done in and through His people. When people start focusing more on the leader than they do on the mission of God, then they will become disunified by their preferences and distracted by their personalities (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17).
God gives leaders to equip the people to walk in the unity of the Spirit as the one body of Christ to fulfill the purposes of God (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Seize the moment and listen to your leaders to stay on mission for God. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the only Name worthy of faith!
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Seize the Moment – Day 611
The Promise of the Promised Land!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, November 18.
Do you know why God gave His people the Promised Land?
Numbers 33 is a historical lesson intended to embolden the Israelites as they received the command to enter and conquer the Promised Land. Verses 1-49 provides a thorough travel log from Egypt at Rameses to their current location on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho, which would be their first military objective to get a foothold in Canaan (Joshua 6).
Numbers 33:50-53 records God’s command to the Israelites at this historic moment:
When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
This has been and always will be God’s intent for His people: to bring all the nations back to Himself and rescue them from the dominion of the lesser gods—to bless the nations with His presence! God chose Abraham for this very reason, and this is the promise for which we, the Church of Jesus Christ, have been called: “And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:29).
Seize the moment because you have been blessed by God to be a blessing to all the nations!
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Seize the Moment – Day 610
Necessary Compromise!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, November 17. .
Have you ever had to make a compromise that was necessary to keep your family together?
Moses did! In Numbers 32, his worst fear was coming true as the younger generation appeared to be balking at the edge of the Promised Land. The sons of Reuben and Gad approached Moses and asked to take claim of the Transjordan and not cross the Jordan to enter Canaan, the Promised Land (1-5).
Not again!?!
Moses escalated his rhetoric and judgment against them for what he saw as history repeating itself (6-15)! Immediately, the tribal leaders clarified their intent to not forsake the Promised Land or mistrust God’s provision, but to settle adjacently to it in the Transjordan for its excellent grazing grounds (16-19).
Moses had to make an impossible leadership decision! He accepted their plan and required a good-faith compromise! Numbers 32:28-30 demonstrates Moses’ foresight to ensure this compromise was clarified between the tribes and his successors so that all parties would keep their end of the agreement:
So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. Moses said to them, “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”
Moses knew a compromise was the necessary way to keep the family of God together and on mission to conquer the Promised Land!
Seize the moment and prayerfully seek for ways to maintain the unity of the Church so that the mission is accomplished in your generation!
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Seize the Moment – Day 609
Welcome Home the Warriors!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, November 16.
I was a Captain in the US Army when 9/11 happened. I remember exactly where I was at Fort Carson, CO. For years to come, we sent warriors overseas to seek vengeance in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT).
The warriors accomplished the task and Balaam along with every male was destroyed (7-8).
After the warriors achieved vengeance for Israel, Moses taught the nation how to welcome home their warriors. These warriors had become ritually unclean from dealing with death and they needed cleansing from the blood shed so that they could reenter the camp physically and spiritually, as well as mentally and emotionally.
In Numbers 31:19-24, Moses and Eleazar established the ritual cleansing for the warriors so that they could reenter the communities, holy and whole:
And you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. You shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of leather and all the work of goats’ hair, and all articles of wood. … And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.”
Every culture needs a way to welcome home their warriors! It is our job as a community to acknowledge that what they did was for us and is a heavy burden on them, and to be cleansed of that bloodshed so that they can reenter homes and workplaces, holy and whole.
Seize the moment and support veterans by showing them respect and helping them reassimilate back home.
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Seize the Moment – Day 608
The Importance of Commitments!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, November 15.
Do you struggle to keep your commitments? Do people trust that your yes means yes and your no means no?
Any commitment made before God must be fulfilled. The remainder of Numbers 30 legislated the exceptions to this law of God because it differed for women, especially for daughters who were under their father’s authority and wives who were under their husband’s, but the principle stood: God honors our personal decision-making authority (“agency”) to make commitments!
Practically speaking, when I assist couples in their preparation for their wedding day or when I am helping a married couple with their marriage, I often say, “Once you said yes to one another on your wedding day, that person became God’s will for your life because God honors your vows.”
God honors your “yes” and your “no” because God honors you! Both your “yes” and your “no” are a gift from the Sovereign God to give you authority in your own life. Simply stated, Jesus calls you to steward the responsibility of personal agency with integrity!
Seize the moment and live within the boundaries of your yes and your no; so that, the world may see God’s love and faithfulness in and through your life!
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Live Like a Champion – Week 46
“The Promise of Unity!”
Jesus prayed for unity of His disciples in John 17:11: “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.”
The key motive for our unity is the very essence of God! God is unity and we are to be like God!
The promise of unity is at the heart of God and how God has revealed Himself to us throughout the Bible and through His Son Jesus Christ because God within God’s self is a perfect unity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Listen to the ancients in the Athanasian Creed (approximately 450-600 AD) call us to a unity of faith in the unity of the Godhead:
[Our] faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity [true foundational principle] to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by [our faith] to say; There are three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.[1]
I like the old creeds. Of course, all creeds are secondary to rightfully interpreting Scripture. The history of creeds and councils is focused on the unity of the faith and our fellowship. They sought to clarify through creeds what we believe about God. They sought to give the Church a consistent and reliable language for a great unity of faith and practice.
Paul was passionate about the unity of the Church, too! He opened his first letter to the Corinthians with a plea for unity in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17:
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.
In their excellent book Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible, E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien explain about the situation Paul was communicating to the Church in Corinth:
We might ask ourselves what caused the divisions in Corinth. All we know is what Paul tells us: “One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ’” (1 Cor 1:12). What likely goes without being said for us is that the church was divided either theologically or over devotion to different personalities. These are two common causes of church divisions in the West. We tend to fall out along doctrinal lines or because we are drawn to one charismatic pastor over another.
It is possible, though, that the divisions among the churches in Corinth were not theological. We may be failing to note ethnic markers that Paul sprinkled all over the text. Apollos was noted as an Alexandrian (Egyptian) Jew (Acts 18:24). They had their own reputation. Paul notes that Peter is called by his Aramaic name, Cephas, suggesting the group that followed him spoke Aramaic and were thus Palestinian Jews. Paul’s church had Diaspora Jews but also many ethnic Corinthians, who were quite proud of their status as residents of a Roman colony and who enjoyed using Latin. This may explain why Paul doesn’t address any theological differences. There weren’t any. The problem was ethnic division: Aramaic-speaking Jews, Greek-speaking Jews, Romans and Alexandrians.[2]
Built on this deep disunity, that still exists today, Paul said to the Church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, “So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”
I am joining with Paul in declaring 2,000 years later that we only have one unity, and it is the same unity that the Church has been declaring and defending through councils and creeds for thousands of years: Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and coming again!
The unity of God’s people is intended, by God, according to Jesus’ prayer, to reflect the very unity of God Himself! This is our greatest gift and our hardest fruit—our unity which bears the character of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)! This is our mission; along these same lines, Paul said in multiple places such teaching as Galatians 3:26-29,
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
Based on this teaching on the promise of unity, I call you to three mindsets, which are action items for our congregation and for the Church through the world:
- Christian unity is in Christ alone! When we are disunified it means we have lost focus on Him and made it about us! Lord Jesus, you are the head of the Church, and we ask for your forgiveness when we forget who you are and who we are in you!
- Christian unity is on mission for God! When we are disunified it means we are off God’s mission and into our own agendas—social, political, religious, or personal! Lord, I ask that you don’t bless our plans, but that you bless us to be a part of your plans!
- Christian unity is for God’s glory alone! When we are disunified God is not glorified! Lord, there is only one name that needs to be remembered or glorified—Jesus Christ alone and it is in your name that all things have been reconciled to the Father.
With this rich understanding that our unity needs to rise above all human boundaries and distinctions, as well as all human fear and ambition, let us hear Jesus’ prayer for His Church from John 17:20-26:
I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Historic Creeds and Confessions, electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Lexham Press, 1997). For a diagram that visualizes this creed see https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasian_Creed.
[2] E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 66.
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Seize the Moment – Day 606
Today’s hymn focus will be
“Count Your Blessings”
“O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.”
Johnson Oatman, Jr. grew up singing hymns with his father who loved to sing praises to God with his children, leaving behind a rich legacy. Johnson grew up to become a Methodist minister who wrote over 5000 hymns, with Count Your Blessings being the most loved, usually being sung around Thanksgiving. During the revival in Wales in the early 1900’s, it was one of the hymns sung at every service.
It is not a song to say, “Everything is fine, so just cheer up!” Rather, it is one to openly acknowledge life’s storms and burdens and bring them all to God in prayer.
“Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings,
See what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God has done.”
YOUTUBE:
Count Your Blessings
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journeys end.
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Seize the Moment – Day 605
Holy days!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, November 12.
Everyone loves a good holiday!
While some see holidays as a chance to sleep in or eat extra, what we find in Numbers 28 and 29 is that there is more to the story, much more! The sacred rhythms of ordinary time are anchored by the observance of holy days, or what we call holidays.
Numbers 28 and 29 commanded the Israelites to keep the sacred rhythms of time to include the daily sacrifices, the weekly Sabbaths, and the major festivals.
Numbers 28 legislated the observance of Passover, also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread (16-25), and the Day of Firstfruits, which begins the Feast of Weeks or Harvest, also called Pentecost (26-31).
Numbers 29 legislated the observance of the Feast of Trumpets (1-6), the Day of Atonement (7-11), and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (12-38).
What was the common variable to all these holy days in the Jewish calendar?
Numbers 28:18 & 26 and Numbers 29:1 & 12 prescribe that “you shall do no laborious work.”
It is the same for all the festivals, except for the Day of Atonement where further details are given. Numbers 29:7 explains, “you shall humble yourselves; you shall not do any work.”
There it is! For a holiday to be a holy day, according to the testimony of God’s ancient practices, God’s people must humble themselves from their activity and abstain from work!
And not because work is evil. Please pay attention to the biblical motive for work found in Genesis 1:28—work is God’s idea to partner with Him in bringing His rule to the earth! But, and here’s the point, we, too, as God’s people, who were created to partner in God’s work, must cease from striving and know that He is the One and only God (Psalm 46:10)!
Seize the moment and find rest for your soul by living in the unforced rhythms of God’s grace!
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Seize the Moment – Day 604
The Appointed Time!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, November 11. Happy Veteran’s Day to my fellow veterans. Thank you for your service and sacrifices for us!
Do you have a good theology of time?
From the world we learn that time is money: another day another dollar! Is that all it is—a utilitarian commodity used in bartering for economic goods?
From God’s Word, we learn that all time, every moment, is a gift from God for our good and His glory!
Numbers 28 and 29 invest 71 verses to review the Jewish calendar and highlight not only their major festivals, but also the sacred rhythms of ordinary time.
These two chapters are bookended together by a key theological concept that we find in Scripture: “at [the] appointed time”!
What is your theology of time?
Every moment of your life is a providential opportunity to know God and to make Him known!
Seize the moment because every moment is a gift of God for your good and His glory!
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Seize the Moment – Day 603
Succession of Authority
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, November 10.
It can be difficult for a young pastor to follow a beloved pastor who had been at the church for a long time. In fact, most denominations don’t even try it; they put an interim pastor in the position to help the congregation work through their grief. But in the best of situations, the outgoing pastor works with the congregation ahead of time to develop a succession plan.
Moses recognized that it was time for his congregation to start putting a succession plan in place so that he could help oversee the transition of his leadership role to a new leader who would carry out the mission and care for the people.
Listen to Moses and God develop the succession plan together in Numbers 27:15-20,
Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him.”
Moses wasn’t the only leader in the Bible to create a succession plan! Jesus trained and empowered the Apostles who succeeded Him, but also gives the Holy Spirit to train and empower all who follow Him today.
Seize the moment and plan your succession; it is never too early to start passing on to the next generation what was given to you (2 Timothy 2:2).
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