Today’s worship song focus will be

Lavish

Psalm 23:1-2 (NASB95)

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.”       

Written and released in 2017 by Francesca Battistelli, Jeremy Redmon & Mike Weaver, it is easy to see that this song is based upon Psalm 23. It’s important to remember that before we had hymn books, the early church sang the scriptures. Just read through the book of Psalms and see the description of the chapters where it says “To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David” (Psalm 5). In fact, the word ‘psalm’ means a sacred song or hymn, especially one in which expressions of praise and thanksgiving are prominent.*

You are my shepherd, I shall not want.    

You make me lie down in green pastures.     

You lead me beside still waters

You restore my soul

We need to wake up each day with a song of praise in our hearts and on our lips. Think about how much better your day would go if you did this instead of grumbling at the alarm clock. God loves you and wants you to always have the best day, even when it may be dark and gloomy. Can you think of a better way to start your day?  

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:

Lavish

Heed God’s Promise of Rest!

Isaiah 28

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, January 19.

Why is it that the people of God, throughout history, have struggled to heed God’s promise for rest? We say we want peace and quiet, yet we sabotage it at every level of our existence – internally, externally, personally, and publicly. God cries out to His people in Isaiah 28:11-12, and 16:

Indeed, He will speak to this people through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” and, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen. … Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”

In Romans 10:9-11, Paul quoted the last sentence of verse 16, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” Furthermore, Paul bookended his point in Romans 9:33 when he quoted the first part of verse 16, putting the promise of salvation in between the two quotes of Isaiah 28:16, emphasizing the ancient truth that righteousness can only be imputed by faith.

Rest must be received! Israel did not listen when confronted by the Assyrian Empire. Later, Judah did not listen when confronted by the Babylonian Empire (Jeremiah 6:16). Jesus is confronting all people with it in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Are you listening?

Seize the moment and heed God’s unceasing promise of rest – it’s yours to have so “cease striving and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Are you sabotaging your experience of this promise in your life?

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.

The Bible Reveals One God!

Isaiah 27

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, January 18.

The Bible is full of rich and meaningful imagery. Today’s chapter is no exception; listen to Isaiah 27:11-13:

When its limbs are dry, they are broken off; women come and make a fire with them, … In that day the Lord will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Seize the moment and worship the one God who is revealed from cover to cover of the Bible. Take time to find these connections between the Old and New Testament.

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.

Be Steadfast of Mind!

Isaiah 26

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

Peace begins with God, by putting your trust in Christ alone and being “steadfast” of mind (1 Corinthians 15:58). This gives you a secure mind and heart, building you upon the rock of Jesus, just like a city on a hill can be made strong by fortifying it for protection. In Isaiah 26:1-4, the prophet proclaims the people’s song of joy and thankfulness to God for His righteous judgments, “We have a strong city; He sets up walls and ramparts for security. Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, the one that remains faithful. The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.”

Are you steadfast of mind? Are you experiencing God’s perfect peace? In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul gave us the promise of the peace of God, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Do not read this magnificent promise of God as His condemnation of you for having fearful feelings or anxious thoughts; rather, hear these words as God’s invitation to experience the victorious life of trusting God’s prescribed ways of fortifying your mind and securing your heart, building your life upon His rock through obedience to His Word, and escaping the deadly snares of fear and insecurity.

Seize the moment and be steadfast of mind; experience the perfect peace of God by fortifying your life on the everlasting Rock (Matthew 7:24-27). Trust God for “the way of escape” by living according to the teachings of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:13).

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.

The Response to Judgment!

Isaiah 25

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 16.

Isaiah 25 shows the response of God’s people to the righteous judgment of God, foretold in Isaiah 24. Their response was pregnant with the hope of the coming Messiah, as described in Isaiah 25:6-9:

The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine. And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

Jesus bursts forth from Isaiah’s prophecy. God was not surprised by humanity’s sin; He always intended to send His Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior to provide for us His salvation, removing the veil, swallowing death, wiping away our tears, and removing the reproach of death. In Paul’s triumphant description of the resurrection of Jesus, he quotes Isaiah 25:8 in 1 Corinthians 15:50-54:

Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. … But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Seize the moment and declare the victory of Jesus Christ in how you live your life – “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:57-58).

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.

The City of Chaos!

Isaiah 24

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, January 15.

Instead of being a place of peace, Isaiah described the Earth as, “the city of chaos” where “every house is shut up so that none may enter” (Isaiah 24:10). What God designed to be His dwelling place with humanity has been mutilated by mankind’s mismanagement. Isaiah 24 describes the coming judgment, which will be reminiscent of the catastrophic flood in the days of Noah (Genesis 6-8), beginning in verses 3-6:

The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

God has desired for His people to join Him in the work of cultivating the Earth into a place of peace. Often, as we see in Matthew 21:12-13, God’s judgment is in response to how we fall short: “Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a robbers’ den.’” God’s judgments are to restore people, and the creation we are called to steward, back to His original design – to be the place where God rules with righteousness and justice.

Seize the moment and invite Jesus to bring peace to “the city of chaos” within you, so that you may bring God’s presence to the world. Trust Jesus to transform you into a house of prayer 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.

Strong God

Strong God

The Urgency to Respond!