Seize the Moment – Day 387
Gratitude is the Right Response to God’s Blessings!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, April 8.
Does it matter how you respond to God’s blessings in your life?
Let’s think about that question from a simple perspective: How do you feel when you give someone a gift or you do something nice for them and they take it for granted and don’t say thank you or show any gratitude in word or deed?
Genesis 8:20-22 captures the scene of Noah’s first activity after leaving the ark. Noah could have been wrapped up with lots of concerns and thoughts about what had just happened because of the world-wide flood or about what should happen next now that they had to start life and civilization all over again, but instead Noah does this:
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
God’s blessings come in many forms, shapes, and sizes. We are invited to praise God for all of His gracious gifts. Gratitude in word or deed goes a long way to offering God a right response to His blessings in your life.
Seize the moment and say thank you to God! And remember that often God uses people to give you His many blessings. Be sure to say thanks to the people God uses to bless you along the way.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “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?”
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Seize the Moment – Day 386
In the Days of Noah!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 7.
Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to experience the flood in the days of Noah?
Genesis 7:21-23 describes the horrifying judgment that was the world-wide flood:
All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.
I believe this was a real historic event—the judgment of God upon humanity’s rebellion against His rightful rule. I hold this conviction because of Jesus’ words. Jesus referenced Noah and the flood as a historical reality and used it to describe His second coming in Matthew 24:37-39,
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Jesus not only referenced it; He was there for it as the sovereign God and the reason Jesus came from Heaven to earth was to create an ark by which all can be saved from God’s righteous judgment of sin. He made the way!
Seize the moment and get in the ark of faith in Jesus Christ today! You don’t have to face a world-wide flood to know that you are in need of a savior! Do you?
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “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?”
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Seize the Moment – Day 385
One Person Does Make a Difference!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 6.
The beautiful thing about reading through the Old Testament together is that we find the classic Sunday School lessons. Sorry no flannel graph. Today, we start one of the most famous Bible stories: The flood and Noah’s ark found in Genesis 6 – 10.
Can one person truly make a difference in today’s world?
The story of the world-wide flood and Noah’s ark is the story of the second rebellion of humanity against God’s rightful rule. As usual, God’s response to our sin is found in a person. This template of response is ultimately fulfilled thousands of years later in Jesus Christ!
Genesis 6:7-8 gives God’s response to man’s universal rebellion against Him: “The Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
All have rebelled, but one! How would this one person named Noah respond to God’s covenant to choose him and use him to rescue all of humanity and all of God’s living creatures? Genesis 6:22 explains Noah’s response: “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.”
In the New Testament, written thousands of years later, Noah is remembered this way. Listen to Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Seize the moment and live by faith and like Noah you will make a difference in your generation. God always has used just one person to make a difference in the world.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “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?”
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Seize the Moment – Day 384
Created in the Image of God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 5.
How do you view people? How do you view yourself?
Genesis gives us a strong foundation of understanding the reality of humanity. Listen to Genesis 5:1-2 as it begins a genealogy of the descendants of Adam and Eve: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.”
We are created in the Image of God and we are blessed by God. Our origins are holy, even if our history is marked by sin. The Bible does not run from either reality. We can’t oversimplify our view of people and simply categorize them. We must see people as God created us to be!
It is important to see how the author of Genesis echoes the earlier language of Genesis 1:26-28:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Seize the moment and worship God and in doing so, you will reflect the glory of God to the world He created.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “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?”
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Live Like a Champion – Week 14
“The Promise of Resurrection and Life!”
John 11:1-46 (NAS95)
Happy Easter ~ He is Risen!
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!
Easter is the perfect Sunday for a series about living a victorious life because this is the day we celebrate the greatest victory ever—Jesus’s victory over death and His promise to us that, we too, will join with Him in His resurrection.
The play of the week is the “Promise of Resurrection and Life!” The memory verse for this promise is John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims,
“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?”
This is a precious and magnificent promise ~ He is Risen!
1. The Promise of Resurrection and Life is for You
Have you ever felt like you were in a pretty bad situation and could not see nor imagine what God was possibly doing to bring the promise of resurrection and life out of the situation?
Can you imagine how Jesus’ followers must have felt on the Friday of His crucifixion? Their expectations, hopes, and dreams were shattered—life was not working out the way they thought it was supposed to…
Have you ever been there: Expectations crushed under the weight of reality; Hopes shattered like a glass of milk knocked of the dinner table; and Dreams dashed against the rocks of life’s storms?
How could anything good come out of Jesus’ suffering and death?
This the promise of resurrection and life ~ He is Risen!
Jesus responded to Marth and Mary’s discouragement with these words in verse 40, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
They thought Jesus was late in His arrival, but here is the good news: God is never late! I’m not sure if you caught this when Katie read the story, but did you hear what Jesus said in verses 14-15 before He went to see Lazarus, three days after he was informed of Lazarus’ sickness: “Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”
No matter the circumstance or how pungent the smell of death and decay you may be experiencing in your life, if Jesus says it’s time to go and open up the tomb so that you can come out of that circumstance, then it is time to trust that God may have a better plan in mind than what you can imagine. As Jesus said in verse 40, then “you will see the glory of God!”
Can you imagine this truth in your circumstances and relationships, at work or at home, in our church or community, in our nation and the nations?
This is Jesus’ promise of resurrection and life ~ He is Risen!
Jesus calls Lazarus out and we see the reality of Jesus’ promise of resurrection and life, but by God’s providence the work for the community of God’s people is not done yet!
2. Jesus invites you to participate in the promise of resurrection and life!
Listen to what Jesus says in verse 44 to the community who witnessed His miracle: “The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”
Did you hear it? Jesus says to you, “Unbind them and let them go!”
When Jesus began His ministry that would lead Him to the Cross of Calvary, He did so by proclaiming that He was the One who would fulfill God’s promises. Listen to Jesus in Luke 4:17-21,
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to [Jesus]. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
On this Easter Sunday, I am proclaiming to you that Jesus has not only fulfilled the promise of resurrection and life through His atoning sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary and His victorious resurrection from the empty tomb, but that Jesus is now inviting each one of you to carry on His work of bringing resurrection and life to your family and neighborhood, school or workplace, church or civic group or club, community or state, nation, and the nations.
Jesus is inviting you to walk in His fulfillment of that ancient book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon [YOU], Because He anointed [you] to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent [you] to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
Jesus said from the beginning of this story in John 11:4, just as God has proclaimed from the very beginning of the story of this sin-sick world, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”
How are we to participate in the promise of resurrection and life?
Jesus says that this sin-sick world is not to end in death, but all things will be made new for the glory of God and by this the Son of God will be glorified by it! We, His Church, are to work for this glory by doing what Jesus told the first witnesses of the promise of resurrection and life: “unbind them and let them go!”
We are to believe our own Easter Story!
We are to unbind the captives, set free the oppressed, give sight to the blind, and preach the gospel to the poor in word and deed. We are to let them go!
How are you invited to live out this promise in the personal and public arenas of your life?
As our memory verse proclaims 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?”
This is the promise of Jesus Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life ~ He is Risen!
Right now, we are going to respond and this is a sacred moment, an altar call: “Do you believe this?”
That is not my question to you; this is God’s question to you. Jesus is asking you: “Do you believe [that I am the resurrection and the life]?”
“Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.”
Some believed…
God has brought you to the empty tomb of Jesus Christ on this Easter Sunday: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, crucified on the Cross of Calvary for the forgiveness of your sin, dead and buried for three days, resurrected from the dead and alive as “the first fruits” (1 Corinthians 15:20) for all who will inherit His eternal life?
This is the promise of the One how has defeated death once and for all ~ He is Risen!
“Do you believe this?”
This is the promise of the First Fruits of the Resurrection and the Life ~ He is Risen!
“Do you believe this?”
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
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Seize the Moment – Day 382
Today’s hymn focus will be “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”
Revelation 1:17b-18 (NLT)
“Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but
look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”
Written and published in 1739 by Charles Wesley, this hymn was originally entitled ‘Hymn for Easter Day’ and debuted during the first worship service at the Wesleyan Chapel known as the Foundry Meeting House in London, England. It was eleven stanzas long, without the “Alleluias!”, but has been shortened to the four verses we know today and has been sung enthusiastically in Easter services ever since.
His hymns were known to have clothed Christ in flesh and blood, and gave converts a belief they could easily grasp, embracing their personal faith. For the Christian, Christ’s resurrection assures us of God’s tomorrow, anticipating the possibility of the promise of eternity and to live joyfully today, regardless of life’s circumstances.
Sons of men and angels say Allelujia
Raise your joys and triumphs high. Allelujia
Sing ye heavens and earth reply. Allelujia
As we wake up tomorrow morning (Easter Sunday), let you heart proclaim the transforming power of the living Christ. And then carry this hymn of triumph with you!
YOUTUBE:
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where’s thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!
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Seize the Moment – Day 381
There is a Way of Victory!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 2.
Today is Good Friday and I invite you to join us tonight at 6:30 for a sacred assembly. We gather to worship God and to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary.
Did you know that God has made a way for you to return to Him? No matter what you have done…
Genesis 4:5b-7 demonstrates God’s unrelenting desire to have a healthy relationship with His people. In this passage we hear God speak to Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, regarding his anger at how Abel’s offering was accepted, while his offering was not:
So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Just because Cain’s first attempt at offering a right sacrifice was rejected by God doesn’t mean that Cain himself was cut off from God. Even though God made a way of victory for Cain, Cain allowed his anger and resentment to build up and he rejected God’s way and killed Abel.
We must choose to walk in the way of victory! Listen to Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
Seize the moment and walk in God’s way of victory. Jesus Christ has made a way for you!
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from Exodus 6:7a, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.”
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Seize the Moment – Day 380
A Walk in the Garden!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, April 1.
Today is more than April Fool’s Day; it is Maundy Thursday, which is the day we remember Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper and giving us the new command to love one another as God first loved us. Join us tonight for a special communion service at 6:30.
Did you know that God desires a personal relationship with you?
We see this from the very beginning. Genesis 3:8-9 describes a very tragic scene in a very relational way: “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”
God knew exactly where the first humans were, but was inviting Adam and Eve into a conversation with Him. Why? Because it had become their habit to walk together in the garden. How do I know this? Because like a child who knows the familiar sound of her parent’s footsteps, so Adam and Eve knew the sound of the Lord God’s footsteps.
But this time they hid from God because they had committed the first sin—Adam and Eve had disobeyed God.
Do you know what sin does? Sin breaks relationships!
But brokenness is not God’s desire for you and me. God’s desire for us is to have a personal relationship with Him. That is why He sent His Son Jesus Christ—to once and for all deal with the sin issue and restore us back into a right relationship with God.
Seize the moment and walk with God through a personal relationship with Jesus. This is why Jesus came, so that we can love God and one another as God intended from the very beginning.
“Where are you” in your relationship with God today?
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from Exodus 6:7a, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.”
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Seize the Moment – Day 379
Stopping is Holy Work!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, March 31.
Do you find it hard to take a day off in your busy schedule? Do you find it challenging to disconnect from social media for a day? Do you find it hard to not buy or sell something whenever you want to? Do you have trouble turning off your worry?
Sabbath means “to cease” and is rooted in God’s creative intent, as recorded in Genesis 2:1-3:
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
God sanctified, made holy, the seventh day because it was the day that He rested to delight in His completed work. Interestingly, in the Genesis creation account, only the Sabbath day is called “holy.” Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel commented,
It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh is used for the first time: in the Book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. … There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness.[1]
Here is the key point: stopping is God’s idea! Boundaries on your work and worry are a good thing! When we cease striving, we will know that He is God. Sabbath is a faithful practice of proclaiming the preeminence of Jesus Christ in our lives!
Seize the moment and submit to God’s creative intent for rest! Stopping is holy work!
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from Exodus 6:7a, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.”
YOUTUBE:
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1951), 9.
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Seize the Moment – Day 378
The Unforced Rhythms of Grace in God’s Creation!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, March 30.
Did you know that Jesus invites you to live in His unforced rhythms of grace?
This has been God’s intent from the very beginning. This was revealed in the ancient pattern of thought found in the creation account of Genesis 1, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day… and there was evening and there was morning, a second day… and there was evening and there was morning, the next day” for six days, but not on the seventh day for that day was set apart as different; it was consecrated or made “holy.”
Read Genesis 1 to see how deeply imbedded this refrain is into the entire creation account—it’s all grace! Pastor Eugene Peterson explained the importance of this refrain:
The Hebrew evening/morning sequence conditions us to the rhythms of grace. We go to sleep, and God begins his work. As we sleep, he develops his covenant. We wake and are called out to participate in God’s creative action. We respond in faith, in work. But always grace is previous. Grace is primary. We wake into a world we did not make; into a salvation we did not earn. Evening: God begins, without our help, his creative day. Morning: God calls us to enjoy and share and develop the work he initiated. Creation and covenant are sheer grace and there to greet us every morning. George MacDonald once wrote that sleep is God’s contrivance for giving us the help he cannot get into us when we are awake.[1]
Seize the moment and rest in the unforced rhythms of grace that God designed you for, from the beginning. Get in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ today.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from Exodus 6:7a, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.”
YOUTUBE:
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Eugene H. Peterson, “The Good-for-Nothing Sabbath,” Christianity Today (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1994), 34.
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