Seize the Moment – Day 420
God’s Intervention for His People!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, May 11.
After six years under the new employment contract, Jacob has fled Laban. He does so in fear of Laban because of his twenty-year track record of deceitfulness. Jacob’s instincts are correct and Laban gives chase, but God, once again, intervenes to protect the patriarch. Not because Jacob earned it, but because of God’s grace!
From Genesis 31:41-42, listen to Jacob’s words to Laban right before they make a covenant with God to not harm one another and to go their separate ways:
These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night.
How did God intervene on behalf of Jacob the previous night?
Genesis 31:24 records, “God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, ‘Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.’”
This is not the first time, nor would it be the last, that God used a dream to protect one of His chosen people. Apart from this dream, Laban would have not feared the God of Jacob and tempered his ambition to seize back what he still considered his own (Genesis 31:43).
Is God still in the business of intervening for His chosen people today?
Absolutely! Romans 8:34 reminds us of God’s once-and-for-all intervention, “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”
Seize the moment and pray for God’s intervention in Jesus’ Name.
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Seize the Moment – Day 419
The Drama of Dueling Deceivers!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, May 10.
As the patriarchs’ saga continues, will Jacob be outwitted once again by his father-in-law Laban?
Genesis 30:33-34 captures the signing of an employment contract between Jacob and Laban, “So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.” Laban said, “Good, let it be according to your word.”
What we have here is the ongoing drama of the dueling deceivers. Both of their track records are speckled with dishonesty and spotted with deception.
Jacob has completed working 14 years for Laban’s two daughters—Leah and Rachel—and now Jacob is seeking independence to provide for the future financial well-being of his growing family.
Laban eagerly agreed to the terms of this deal and then acts in self-interest. He removed from the flocks that Jacob was tending all the sheep and goats that could breed to produce a greater flock for Jacob. In response, Jacob employs ancient practices of sympathetic magic to attempt to bring about better breeding results for his family’s future.
This is the drama of the dueling deceivers and they have taken matters into their own hands!
Laban is trying to keep Jacob dependent on his wealth so that he can keep his daughters and grandchildren in his household. Jacob is attempting to break the yoke of Laban so he can take his family to the promised land of God.
Both are doing what is right in their own eyes!
Seize the moment and trust God with your family’s future. As we will see in the next chapter, God honors his covenant with Abraham and rescues Jacob, not because of Jacob’s righteousness, but because of God’s faithfulness.
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Live Like a Champion – Week 19
The Promise of Comfort!
Isaiah 66:13a (NAS95)
In this sermon series, we are learning how to live like a champion by learning how to live according to the victory of the promises of God. Our guiding image for this series is being a member of an NFL team who wins the Superbowl. We live like champions so that others will come to know the One who gave us His Victory—Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again!
“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.”
To comfort means to alleviate sorrow; to relieve distress; to give emotional strength to. To comfort someone is an activity of love from one person to another. I want you to hang on to this definition and understanding of comfort because while this is a divine promise of God, it is one that God incarnates to us and then between us, from one person to another!
A prime example of this is found in motherhood! The love of a mother is great and we celebrate such a love on this day—Mother’s Day! A special, heart-felt blessing over all of our moms.
PRAY OVER AND BLESS ALL THE MOMS, COMFORT THOSE WHO WANTED TO BE MOMS AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE TRYING, CALL FORTH SPIRITUAL MOTHERHOOD THROUGH MENTORSHIP/ADOPTION/FOSTER CARE, AND GRIEVE FOR THOSE MOMS WHO ARE NO LONGER WITH US OR WHO WERE ABSENT.
While we could spend this entire service testifying to the great comfort and sacrificial love of many women as moms, I want to return our eyes to God, the author of all comfort, who loves us with a perfect love.
In Isaiah 49:15-16a, God says His love is more powerful than even that of a mother’s love for her children: “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands…”
Can you imagine that? What love! What compassion!
I hope it is not lost on you that Isaiah, the prophet who was used by God to clearly communicate the coming Messiah, was also the prophet who spoke so convincingly of God’s comfort. Listen to two samples:
- Isaiah 12:1-2: “I will give thanks to You, O Lord; for although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.”
- Isaiah 40:1-3: “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.”
In both of these scriptures, we see that the comfort of God’s people is connected to their salvation and that salvation would come, of course, through the coming Messiah—the Christ—Jesus Christ.
Comfort is such a significant promise that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to fulfill it! As Jesus said in John 16:20-22,
Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
Listen to Paul declare God’s comfort through Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the World. This powerful promise of comfort is found in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
It is with this scripture that we now move to the practice of the promise and the truth of our understanding of comfort—God incarnates His promise of comfort! The promise of comfort, like all the promises of God, is found in Jesus Christ. It is the gift of God to His people—this is God’s magnificent salvation to bring us the comfort Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 40.
If you do not yet understand the depth of comfort Jesus Christ has given us, please join me as I walk with a family through the death and dying process. What comfort there is to be found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! As Jesus said in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
We can be comforted because He lives! Because He lives, you can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lives.
This is the promise of the resurrection: He is Risen! Comfort comes from believing our own story!
The promise of comfort is so important in the lives of God’s people, especially when we face disease and death, darkness and despair, disappointment in this life and defeat at the hands of our enemies.
We need comfort when the scoreboard at halftime looks desperate, but there is still plenty of time to play!
We need light in this darkness; hope in this despair; healing from this disease, and deliverance from death!
Comfort allows us to play the game of life like champions by living according to the promises of God!
The promise of God’s comfort is found through the promise of the presence of God indwelling us in the person of the Holy Spirit. Just as God put on flesh to dwell with us, He now dwells in us!
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
Jesus Christ has brought comfort to all humanity through salvation. Our salvation is now to bring comfort to the nations through the same comfort He first gave us!
The Holy Spirit ministers this comfort by mediating the presence of God directly to us and through us.
We are now the ones who are to bring that same comfort to others. This is the practice of the promise—in the same way that you have been comforted, now comfort others!
- God reached from Heaven to earth through the incarnation of Jesus Christ to comfort you, now pick up the phone or send a card to comfort another.
- Jesus died on the Cross to comfort you, now make a meal and deliver it to someone to comfort them.
- Jesus defeated death in the resurrection to comfort you, now show up and visit someone to comfort them.
- Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father and is coming again to comfort us, now leave the comfort of your own home to help your neighbor or family or friend or fellow church member in need.
- The Holy Spirit comforts you as your constant companion, now you use words that comfort the clerks in stores and waitresses in restaurants and those who you interact with on a daily basis.
“But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.”
This is the gospel ministry of Jesus Christ through men and women, alike. We are to extend to one another the same nurture and love, the same compassion and mercy, the same gentleness and grace as a mother to her child.
We are to do for others what the three persons of the Triune God has done for us!
This is the love that God first gave us and this is the love that will transform the world.
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Seize the Moment – Day 417
Today’s hymn focus will be “My Savior’s Love”
Galatians 2:20 (NLT)
“ My old self has been crucified with Christ.[a] It is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me.
Today’s hymn is also known by the titles “I Stand Amazed” and “How Marvelous” and was written and composed by Charles Gabriel. Born in Iowa in 1856, from a young age he showed a talent and love for music. While he had no formal training in music, he was requested by his pastor to help him find a song to go along with his message. By the end of the week, he had written the words and composed the music for that song.
As you read the lyrics, you can imagine how the passion for Christ that is found in the Gospels vividly revealed itself to him as he penned the lyrics of this hymn.
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
And wonder how He could love me, a sinner condemned, unclean
How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be!
How marvelous! How wonderful! Is my Savior’s love for me!
We need to wake up and realize that the Love that God demonstrated to us through the giving of His Son is far deeper than any source that we can ever find. God’s amazing love is marvelous and wonderful!
YOUTUBE:
My Savior’s Love
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how he could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be;
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
He prayed, “Not my will, but thine;”
He had no tears for his own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
He made them his very own;
He bore the burden to Calv’ry,
And suffered and died alone.
His face I at last shall see,
‘Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of his love for me.
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Seize the Moment – Day 416
Your Sordid Story for His Sovereign Glory!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, May 7.
The story of Jacob continues in Genesis 29. Rebekah sent her son away to protect him from Esau, but he went from the frying pan to the fire as Rebekah’s brother Laban takes over where she left off with the scheming.
Jacob falls in love with Laban’s daughter, Rachel. Yes, she is his cousin. Don’t judge them too harshly as this was very common at that time and place. The real scandal is that after Laban agreed to give Rachel, his youngest daughter, to Jacob in an arranged marriage for seven years of Jacob’s labors, Laban tricked him and gave him Leah on his wedding night. He didn’t realize it until it was too late and Jacob was now married to the wrong woman.
Jacob got a taste of his own trickery. Can’t you hear Isaac laughing all the way back in the promised land? I digress…
Jacob then agrees to work another seven years to receive Rachel as his bride.
If that isn’t enough of a soap opera for you, this scandal is just heating up as Rachel and Leah start competing with one another on who can produce the most children.
Where was God in this story? Listen to Genesis 29:30-31, “Indeed [Jacob] loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years. Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”
This chapter ends with Leah conceiving four sons for Jacob—the first four tribes of Israel! What a scandal of God’s grace!
In Genesis 30, the scandal will only intensify as these sisters pull a play from Abraham and Sarah’s playbook and each of their handmaids are thrown in the mix. Hollywood has nothing on this story!
Seize the moment and walk in the mercy of God’s grace upon your story. No matter the details of your life, God can use your sordid story for His sovereign glory.
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Seize the Moment – Day 415
Trust God to Keep His Word!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, May 6.
Have you ever wondered what motivates people to do what they do?
In a previous episode of the patriarch’s soap opera, we watched Isaac unknowingly bless Jacob because of Rebekah’s plot of deception to put her favored son ahead of Esau. They were discovered quickly and Esau was very angry at Jacob, dangerously so.
When confronted, would their mother change her ways of plotting and deceiving?
Rebekah doesn’t, rather, she protected Jacob from his angry brother by sending him off to find a wife back in her homeland, far away from danger.
The episode ends with a smile on Rebekah’s face as Isaac blesses Jacob before he departs. From Genesis 28:3-4,
May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.
In Rebekah’s eyes, her mission was accomplished! What was her motivation to do this?
A flashback scene from Rebekah’s difficult pregnancy gives us the answer to this question. She was in great turmoil and inquired of the Lord in Genesis 25:23, “The Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.’”
Rebekah was motivated by God’s prophecy that Jacob would rule over Esau and worked to see the Word of God fulfilled in her family. Her meddling and deception was motivated by a noble desire to see God’s will fulfilled, but what a mess she caused in trying to help God do His job.
Seize the moment and trust God to keep His Word in His time and in His ways.
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Seize the Moment – Day 414
The Importance of Giving a Blessing!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, May 5.
Have you ever been prayed over by a parent or by a parent-figure in your life? Have you ever been in the position of authority over someone and prayed a blessing over them?
There is power in giving and receiving a blessing! Listen to Isaac bless his son Jacob in Genesis 27:27-29,
So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed; now may God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and an abundance of grain and new wine; may peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you; be master of your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.”
While this is a sordid story, there is something of great value that we can learn from it—the importance of giving a blessing!
A blessing, simple stated, is the giving of God’s favor. Here are three components of a blessing from Isaac’s blessing of Jacob:
- Use appropriate physical touch. As simple as a handshake, when it is appropriate and agreed upon by the other person, there is power in physical touch.
- Pray specific words of blessing over the person. Don’t just pray well-worn statements over them, but specifically apply the Word of God to the person and his/her life.
- Declare a hopeful future over the person. God is for us and our blessings should reflect God’s love for the person and His favor for their future. Be a hope-bearer in their life!
Seize the moment and be a person of blessing. Take time today to call someone or visit someone and give them this gift of faith, hope, and love.
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Seize the Moment – Day 413
When the Forecast is Dire, Faith Gives us Hope!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, May 4.
The situation has become dire for God’s people as a famine has come upon the Promised Land. The new and inexperienced family leader, Isaac, was feeling the heavy weight of responsibility ever since his father Abraham had died. He needs clear instructions on what to do so that his wife and twin boys—Jacob and Esau—won’t perish in the desperate days of famine.
Will God keep His promise to Isaac and his family?
The Lord both reassures and commands Isaac in Genesis 26:3, “Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.”
From his time with God, Isaac trusts God and makes a go at it. It takes great courage to live out your faith and trust God for your family and future in such a heavy circumstance.
While the forecast looked desperate, his faith kept him hopeful. He trusted God’s Word!
Listen to how Isaac responds to God’s great provision in Genesis 26:25, “So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.”
Isaac worshipped the Lord by building an altar to worship God and to remember God’s power and provision to keep His promises. When we are faced with a dire forecast and finding it difficult to trust the promises of God, remember how God has come through for you and your family time and time again in the past. He will do so, again and again, in the future.
Seize the moment and trust God’s power and provision for you and your family.
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Seize the Moment – Day 412
Comfort in Grieving!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, May 3.
As many of you know, I officiate and participate in a lot of funerals. It is a part of my calling to provide pastoral care for the congregation and as an outreach ministry to the community. What a joy it is to give people hope in a time of such grief and sorrow.
There is a powerful sentence about Abraham’s death in Genesis 25:8 that deeply struck me this morning, especially as a I prepare the message for Donna Jarvis’ funeral this afternoon: “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.”
God blessed Abraham with a long fruitful life and then he was gathered with the saints who had gone to be with God before him. What else could we ask for?
Psalm 116:15 proclaims, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.”
Revelation 14:13 declares, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!”
One of the great gifts of our faith in Jesus Christ, is the peace God’s presence gives us in the face of life’s trials and temptations, to include the trial of dying and as we or our loved ones face death. The Lord has not only given us a heavenly peace, but also a certain assurance that we will join with Jesus in His resurrection; that the death of this body does not have the final word!
Jesus said in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Seize the moment and believe in Jesus Christ. Because He lives, you can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone.
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Live Like a Champion – Week 18
The Promise of Being Discipled
Mark 1:17 (NAS95)
In this sermon series, we are learning how to live like a champion by learning how to live according to the victory of the promises of God. Our guiding image for this series is being a member of an NFL team who wins the Superbowl. We live like champions so that others will come to know the One who gave us His Victory—Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again!
“And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’”
You are invited!
Everything pertaining to life and godliness, to wholeness and holiness, comes down to hearing this invitation. Not just a once-upon-a-time invitation commonly called justification or being saved, but the every-day-every-moment invitations which are the call of the Spirit for our sanctification.
Our responsibility is to listen for the call of Jesus to “Follow Me” and then respond with integrity.
The promise of being discipled is a promise that you never again have to do life by yourself. Jesus is inviting you to do life with Him, for eternity, which, oh by the way, includes every day of this life.
You are invited!
The life of a Christian is a lifestyle defined and determined by the response to this invitation—an invitation that is ongoing in the Christian’s life. Salvation is an all-encompassing reality—it may begin with your initial acceptance of this invitation and end with the fulfillment of it, but it also shapes your daily life.
Are you hearing God’s invitations in your everyday life to follow Him and become like Him in everything you do?
“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, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
That is a promise! Salvation is an ongoing work and your part is to respond to the invitation to follow Jesus and trust that He will keep His promises. This is the life of believing God!
“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.”
You are to learn all that Jesus Christ wants you to learn because we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2)!
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”
You are to do all that Jesus wants you to do because as a fisher of people you are taking on Jesus’ mission to make disciples of all nations—His ambassador; His witness; His light in the darkness!
The promise of being discipled is the promise of becoming like Jesus Christ in your very character—gentle and humble in heart—and conformed to His Image as God intended you from the beginning. Paul said in Romans 8:29-30, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
You are to become all Jesus wants you to be! You are a redeemed Image Bearer of God!
The promise of being discipled is the promise of the Holy Spirit producing fruit on your branch and demonstrating to the world that you are His and represent Him. Jesus said in John 15:8-11,
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
You are the dwelling place of God on this earth—a temple of the Holy Spirit—and a holy priesthood mediating God’s presence. Until He makes all things new, you are His new creation upon this earth.
All of these are the promises of being discipled—the work of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
With all of these promises of God, you only have one calling—one praxis that you are responsible for in this great exchange! We call it living by faith!
“His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence”
Now that you know what God has promised to do with you and in you and for you, let’s now focus on the invitation of this promise: You are invited to trust God by following Jesus!
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Jesus’ invitations to “Follow Me” and to “Come to Me” are the same call with the same promise of God. The Greek word δεῦτε is a translation of the important Hebrew word הלך (hālakh). For the Jewish people, this Hebrew word took on the meaning of habitually practicing or walking in a certain lifestyle as the way of fulfilling God’s invitation of covenant relationship.
Listen to how this concept is built into the covenant call of Isaiah 2:1-5:
The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths’ [italics added]. For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war. Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord [italics added].
Based on Jesus’ word choice, this invitation to “Follow” or “Come” is not a one-time action, but an ongoing journey of following Jesus through the “habitual practice” of His way of life. This is a word the Jewish rabbis used when inviting students to learn their teaching of Torah and walk in their way of fulfilling the Mosaic Law. Jesus was being very intentional in His invitation; He was essentially saying—I am the way!
This was unmistakable to His original audience, which is why Jesus was so controversial! But such nuances are easily missed by us today: Jesus was directly aligning Himself to the ancient promises of Yahweh’s redeemed rule over all nations and the Messiah’s eternal reign over all of God’s creation.
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
You are invited! Yes, this is an invitation that each of must decide how we will respond once and for all, but it also an invitation for each and every moment of our everyday lives. This is the way!
In Christ’s mind, the mind of God, your invitation to salvation, “Follow Me,” comes with everything you need for life and godliness, wholeness and holiness. It includes your call to not only becoming like Him, but to also partner with Him in the mission of Jesus Christ. Because there is only one invitation, one calling, and it is for each of us to answer. It is the invitation to faith, trusting that He will do the rest so that you can find rest for your soul.
You can listen to the message here:
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