Seize the Moment – Day 1396
The Urgency to Respond!
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Seize the Moment – Day 1395
The Valley of Vision!
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 1394
The Heavy Burden of Bad News!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 10.
I have had to deliver the hardest of news to people; it can be heart wrenching to carry the heavy burden of bad news. The same was true for the prophets of God who had to deliver time-sensitive oracles of judgment from God. If they failed to obey, they would incur the judgment of God upon themselves (Ezekiel 3:18-19). In Isaiah 21:2-5, the prophet contrasts his experience as the bearer of bad news, for he was to deliver an oracle of judgment against Babylon, with those for whom the oracle was given:
A harsh vision has been shown to me; the treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. … For this reason my loins are full of anguish; pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; …
God gives to His messengers the revelation of His Word to bring people to repentance. The gospel of Jesus Christ confronts people with the heavy burden of bad news – “For the wages of sin is death … .” As an ambassador of Christ and minister of reconciliation, you must tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21).
Seize the moment and recognize your absolute need for a Savior. The gospel is only good news when it also tells the truth about the bad news of sin and death. If there is no real need for a Savior in the first place, then there would have never been a Christmas or Easter to celebrate.
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 1393
Naked and Barefoot!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 9.
You have heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Recently, a major news source carried a picture from the Middle East, capturing the surrender of a large group of militants. The men were barefoot and stripped down to their underwear as a man walked forward with his hands up. Their nakedness symbolized their humiliation as a defeated army. While this picture has caused a stir in modern days; it was a common site in ancient days. So much so, that Isaiah was commanded by God to walk around without his sandals, and without his outer garment, for three years to symbolize the coming defeat of Egypt and Cush by the Assyrian Empire. In Isaiah 20:3-6, God spoke to the people, using Isaiah’s obedience as an illustration to them:
Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast. So the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, “Behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and we, how shall we escape?”
Isaiah was commanded to provide a shocking prophetic sign to the people of Judah – do not depend on an alliance with any other nation for your victory. Do not put your hope in men who can so easily be humiliated and made defenseless; trust in God who can deliver you in this evil day.
Seize the moment and put your faith in God for His victory in your circumstances – “the battle is not yours but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1392
A Savior and a Champion!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, January 8.
Our culture loves superheroes. At least, we love to be entertained by the concept of a hero who will fly in and rescue us. The marketplace is saturated with so many books, shows, and movies that express our inborn desire for a savior and a champion. Don’t be surprised by this insatiable hunger to be rescued, because evil is real and our need to be saved from it is valid. We most certainly need to be rescued, but not by someone wearing tights and a cape. In Isaiah 19:20-22, God promises to send “a Savior and a Champion” to Egypt:
It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them. Thus the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to them and will heal them.
Once again, we see the heart of the Father in this passage – the purpose of His judgments is the healing of the nations, so they will return to His rightful rule as the Sovereign. Never forget that God loves all the peoples of the planet, and not just “you and yours.” He is not ethnocentric, nor xenophobic, as John testified in 1 John 4:14, “the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”
Seize the moment and participate in God’s Great Rescue through Jesus Christ by praying for all the nations (Matthew 5:43-46; 28:18-20) and loving your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40; Galatians 5:14).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Everyday Discipleship Wk 1
Everyday Discipleship with Real People
Teaching #1: “The Journey to Christlikeness!”
Teaching #1: “The Journey to Christlikeness!”
Christian Discipleship is the intentional journey to Christlikeness!
Read Romans 8:29:
+ “predestined to become”
+ “conformed to the image of His Son”
God chose you to look like Jesus!
Look at the context. Read Romans 8:26-28:
+ “according to the will of God” (27)
+ “to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (28).
What is that purpose? “To become conformed to the image of His Son – to be God’s “image bearer” (Genesis 1:26-28).
Read Colossians 1:15.
+ “the image of the invisible God”
When we look like Jesus – Christlikeness – we do that which Christ came to do (Luke 19:10 & Matthew 28:18-20)!
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
+ The Call = “Follow Me”
Discipleship is the life-long journey of learning and manifesting who you are as a “disciple” through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. A disciple is a person who intentionally follows the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ.
FOCUS: The call of discipleship requires you to “follow” Jesus. The promise of discipleship requires you to trust the work of the Holy Spirit to “make you become.”
Read Philippians 2:12-13.
+ “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”
+ “it is God at work in you … for His good pleasure”
Christian Discipleship is a BOTH-AND: Hard work + a lot of trusting God! This journey is a long obedience in the same direction of Christlikeness (Matthew 11:28-30)!
Read 1 Timothy 4:7b-8.
+ “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness”
+ “godliness is profitable for all things”
We are to train ourselves according to godliness – the pattern of Jesus’ life (“godliness” = “Christlikeness”).
Action Items for this week:
1) Start the 90-Day New Testament Reading Challenge, reading Matthew 1-21 this week. Pick up a reading plan.
2) Start a notebook or journal about your reading plan. Bring it next week as I will teach you how to write a SOAP journal entry for either each chapter or each day.
3) Pray through this handout as you prepare to read your Bible every day. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you “become” conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
If you would like to watch this lesson on YouTube, click HERE.
If you would like to view the entire service including music, etc. click HERE.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1390
Today’s hymn focus will be
I Lift My Hands
Psalms 63:3-4 (NASB95)
“Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.”
The song was written by Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, Matt Maher, and Jesse Reeves in 2010. Rooted in biblical truths of surrender, trust and worship, this song has impacted many believers’ lives since its release. It has served as a source of comfort, inspiration, and encouragement by reminding everyone of the faithfulness of God and the power of worship in our individual lives.
I lift my hands to believe again You are my refuge, you are my strength
As I pour out my heart, these things I remember You are faithful, God, forever
We need to wake up every day with a firm resolve in our hearts that this and every day is a day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it, no matter what we are facing! Why? Because we are not facing it alone. He is there with us. And when we lift up our hands, our Father God is faithful to pick us up and carry us through.
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:
I Lift My Hands
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Seize the Moment – Day 1389
A Gift of Homage!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, January 5.
Do you know the history of Cush? While it has historical connections with the Egyptian Empire, it’s located in Ethiopia. The Cushites came from Cush, the son of Ham, who was one of the three sons of Noah (Genesis 10:6-8). This is an ancient people; in fact, it is one of the first places mentioned in the Bible. In Genesis 2:13, God described the Garden of Eden, which includes a reference to Cush, “The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.” From this pre-historic geographical reference, it is not surprising that the oracle to Cush references “the rivers” three times in the seven verses of Isaiah 18, including verse 7, “At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth, even from a people feared far and wide, a powerful and oppressive nation, whose land the rivers divide – to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, even Mount Zion.”
When your people dwell in the land of the Garden of Eden you are going to highlight that sacred geography whenever possible. It’s like putting a brown sign at your exit on the Interstate, explaining that there is something of interest to pull off and see here! More than that, though, verse 7 prophesied that “a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hosts” by the people of Ethiopia. Is it possible that a fulfillment of this was the conversion of “an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship” (Acts 8:27-40)?
Seize the moment and present yourself as a gift of homage to God – “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship”(Romans 12:1).
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 1388
The Power of Vision!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, January 4.
Damascus was made famous by a Jewish religious leader named Saul, who, after his conversion to the Way of Jesus Christ, started going by the Greek version of his name. The Apostle Paul’s conversion experience is described in Acts 9:3-6:
As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”
In Isaiah 17:1-7, there is a fascinating foreshadowing found in the oracle of Damascus regarding Paul’s conversion story: “Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city and will become a fallen ruin. … In that day man will have regard for his Maker and his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.” While their destruction was accomplished in 732 BC by the hands of Assyria (2 Kings 15:29-16:18; cf. Isaiah 7:1-9), the opening of the eyes to the Holy One of Israel would literally happen over seven hundred years later. In Acts 9:1-19, the Pharisee Saul was blinded by the vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus, but as evidenced of the power of Jesus to redeem that which was bound for destruction, his sight was restored by Ananias in the very city of Damascus where the promise of men’s eyes being opened would occur – “Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight” (18).
Seize the moment and lift up your eyes to see Jesus high and exalted! Meditate upon His promise, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” ( John 12:32).
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 1387
The Power of Redemption!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 3.
Do you believe that your story can be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ? God can break any generational curse and redeem your story for His good purposes. The second chapter of the oracle of Moab’s destruction continues with Isaiah 16, but in the midst of this doom and gloom, the hope of the Messiah shines through in verses 4-5:
Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; be a hiding place to them from the destroyer. For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased, oppressors have completely disappeared from the land. A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, and a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; moreover, he will seek justice and be prompt in righteousness.
Within the judgment of Moab, we find the hope of the Messiah. This prophecy is included in the angelic message to Mary about the birth of Jesus Christ in Luke 1:32-33, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
This is the amazing grace of God’s redemptive power to transform stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we learned yesterday, the Moabites’ origin story began with the scandal of Moab’s parentage of Lot and one of his daughters. After generations of being a thorn in the side of God’s people, their ancestorial line was redeemed by Boaz, the kinsman redeemer who married Ruth the Moabitess, and, together, they became great grandparents to King David, and of the lineage of Jesus (Matthew 1:5-6).
Seize the moment and believe in the power of God to break the generational curses of your family and redeem your story for His good purposes (Romans 8:28).
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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