The Promises of Christmas (Week 3)
Glimpses of the Nativity
…Suddenly we were surrounded by light.I could see the shock on my brothers’ faces that I was sure was mirrored in my own.Then an angel appeared and said,“Fear Not!”Huh!? For some reason when an angel declares “Fear Not!” — FEAR IS OUR FIRST REACTION!Well! We feared all right! We were terrified!We fell on our faces – praying for ABBA’s protection like we never prayed before…!
You can listen to the Reader’s Theater here:
You can watch to the Reader’s Theater HERE. (Week #3, Dec. 13th)
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Seize the Moment – Day 270
Christmas Hymn: “Silent Night”
Imagine having a new church building and preparing to host the Christmas Eve service and discovering that the church organ was broken. Such was the case for the assistant priest, Joseph Mohr as he prepared for the service at the Church of St. Nicolas in Oberndorf, near Salzburg, Austria. He quickly wrote the words for this hymn and took them to Franz Gruber, the church organist and village schoolmaster. Franz was also a guitar player, and composed the simple tune. That night, December 24, 1818, ‘Silent Night’ was sung for the first time with Joseph and Franz singing to the accompaniment of Gruber’s guitar. It would later become a favorite Christmas carol, even being performed in front of the king and queen of Austria.
This song has been sung as a lullaby and as a song to inspire peace and comfort.
YOUTUBE:
All is calm, all is bright
‘Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heav’nly hosts sing “alleluia!
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Christ, the Savior, is born!”
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
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Seize the Moment – Day 269
Strength in the Fight!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, December 11.
Paul’s third chapter to the Thessalonians talks about how Paul was concerned that the “tempter” had worked to make his efforts “useless” in the lives of the congregation (1 Thessalonians 3:5). This remains a real concern for church leadership to this day.
The spiritual reality is that the church lives with a continuous clear and present danger. We can expect afflictions in this life and the devil (the tempter) is always on the prowl looking for his next victim to devour. The key to this clear and present danger is you having a real personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
That is why each of us are invited into a daily time with God in His Word: studying it, memorizing it; praying it and applying into our everyday lives.
This is one of the reasons I write these devotions and make these daily calls: to encourage and help you keep your eyes on Jesus and to remain effective in your Christian life. I want to care for the spiritual well-being of God’s people the best way I know how—biblically following the teaching of the New Testament and as the apostles modeled it for pastors and elders: “We … will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).
So, as Paul prayed for the believers in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13, I pray now for you: “Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”
Seize the moment and find strength for today by starting your day with God—in His Word and in prayer with Him.
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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 268
A Biblical Lifestyle Matters to the Next Generation!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, December 10.
Do you want to be a great mom or dad? Did you know that one of the clearest New Testament teachings on parenting is found in 1 Thessalonians 2?
For moms, Paul says in verses 7-10, “But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.”
Ladies, I encourage you to study this passage, get together and discuss it with one another.
For dads, Paul says in verses 10-12, “You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.”
Gentlemen, I encourage you to study this passage, get together and discuss it with one another.
Let me emphasize verse 10, which applies to all of us: be models of holy, righteous and blameless conduct before [all the] children.
Did you know that a majority of the next generation’s learning about how to do life, relationships, marriage, and parenting (all the big important stuff) doesn’t happen at school, but in watching you?
So, does it matter than how we live at home and at church? Yes, because little eyes are watching and little ears are listening.
Seize the moment and live a biblical lifestyle today.
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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 267
A Great Recipe for Christian Living!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, December 9.
Do you like to cook? Do you follow recipes or create your own along the way?
Either way, you know that the finished product depends on getting all the ingredients just right. If you are missing something, the meal may be good enough, but it won’t be great!
Paul teaches in 1 Thessalonians 1:4-8, “For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you and for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for your received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers…”
Paul gives us God’s recipe for all disciples to live in such a way that we line up with the Gospel of Jesus Christ:
- Our lives align with the Word of God! His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105).
- Our lives manifest the power of God! We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11).
- Our lives are directed by the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is not only the sustainer of all Christian life, but He is also the teacher of God’s Word and the guide of using God’s power (John 14:26).
- Our lives are anchored with a deep conviction! Our only certainty for this and eternal life is our faith and hope in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 11:1-6).
Now, there is a great recipe for living the victorious Christian life.
Are you missing any of the ingredients?
Seize the moment and don’t settle for “good enough”! Live the Promises today!
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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 266
Clear Commands for the Christian Life!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, December 8.
Here are Paul’s final instructions to the followers of Jesus in Colossae, found in Colossians 4:2-6: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”
Paul’s desire in each of his letters to the local churches and local church leaders was to encourage their daily lives so that they walked in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Allow me to summarize Paul’s clear commands of how to walk faithfully in Christ:
- Be devoted or steadfast in your prayers.
- Look for God in all of your circumstances and give thanks to Him for His presence.
- Be ready, with eyes wide open, for opportunities to love people in word and deed in the name of Jesus Christ.
- Make the most of every circumstance remembering that every crisis is an opportunity.
- Salt everything with God’s grace and truth. Love others as God loves you—through grace and forgiveness. Please be gentle with one another.
This seems to be a theme! Paul has given us very clear commands on how we are to live our faith as followers of Jesus—we are to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances.
Seize the moment and walk in this way.
How are you living out your faith in Jesus in your day to day life?
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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 265
Putting Off the Old to Put On the New!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, December 7.
Have you ever seen a house roof where the owners kept putting on layers of new shingles without taking off the old?
If you don’t put off before you put on, you may still end up with a leaky roof! You have to get underneath the surface.
Listen to Paul teach about putting off in Colossians 3:8-10: “In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
Just like with a new roof, the new life in Christ is a partnership with the Holy Spirit to take off the old, deal with what is underneath the surface, and put on the new!
Here’s are three daily steps to remember:
- INVITE THE HOLY SPIRIT! Recognize you can’t do it on your own so invite the God to be your general contractor. Pray!
- GET INTO GOD’S WORD! It is through the Bible that the Holy Spirit will direct your steps, ensuring the old is taken off and the new is being put on according to God’s plans.
- MAKE A COMMITMENT! Remain faithful day in and day out during this construction project. This is a long slow obedience in the same direction. Don’t bail before the blessing!
Seize the moment and live in God’s grace! We can do nothing apart from Him.
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.
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The Promises of Christmas – Week 2
“The Promise of Love!”
Galatians 4:4-7 & 1 John 3:1-3 (NAS95)
Christmas is the true story of the first royal visitation of Jesus Christ!
I want you to think about how upside down the story of Jesus’ birth really is, especially, when you think about who Jesus is and claimed to be. Jesus claimed to be, and is, in fact, nothing less than the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the incarnate God, the Savior of the World.
That alone, the fact that this person came to earth for a royal visitation, is enough to shake the foundations of the world, but the Christmas story is not only miraculous—for the incarnation and the Virgin birth are supernatural in and of themselves are enough to stop the presses and cause a collective sigh throughout all of history—but the Christmas story is also upside down because of the scandal of who God chose to be the main players of this story:
- A poor rural teenage girl from a backwater village gets pregnant before she is married (add an angelic visitation to the virgin birth announcement to add some legitimacy).
- A hardworking Carpenter wants to break off his engagement to his fiancé because she is the aforementioned unwed pregnant teenage girl who, also, said that an angel visited her (add another angelic visitation to the story to keep him in the relationship).
- A parallel miracle happens as the closed womb of the aged Elizabeth is opened, which harkens back to the miracle of Abraham and Sarah (add another angelic visitation to Zacharias, who didn’t believe the angel and was struck mute until it was fulfilled with the birth of John the Baptizer).
- Fast forward 9 months to the angelic visitation to the shepherds who were the first to come and worship Jesus the Christ, born in an animal stall, placed in a manger, and wrapped in the not-so-royal swaddling cloths. He was, literally, born in a barn.
Does this sound like what the royal visitation of God should be like? Really!?!
Jesus should have been born to an important family in an important location. There should have been no scandal around his parentage or birth location, and the first witnesses should have at least been a class of people who could testify in court (side note: isn’t it interesting how shepherds were God’s chosen first witnesses to Jesus’ birth and women were God’s chosen first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection?).
You couldn’t make up a story as ridiculous and as unbelievable as this one. If this was a religious conspiracy to take over the world, then it is a horrible one! Amazingly, this IS the story of the royal visitation of God to His creation! I would have made it a big deal, filled it with pomp and circumstances, with important people in important places, and notable eyewitnesses.
The miracle of Jesus’ birth is not only found in the incarnation and virgin birth, but also in its scandal to the power structures of those God came to save and redeem. The fact that it happened in a way that no powerful person would want the story of his or her birth to be told is evidence unto itself! Let’s be honest, Christmas is a scandal of epic proportions to the powers and principalities of this world! Christmas was very different on purpose!
That’s because Christmas was not a power play, like Caesar’s census. Caesar wanted to show the world how powerful he was by counting how many people were under his authority. Rather, Christmas is a love story where God entered into His creation, compelled by love, to become one of His people in order to save and redeem His people back to Himself.
Paul explains this in Galatians 4:4-7,
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
The unbelievable reality of the first royal visitation of God is that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17).
Christmas is about God’s love and the promise of His adoption into His family! The Father sent His Son into the world so that we can share with Jesus in having God as our “Abba! Father!”.
Love compelled God that first Christmas! John declares in 1 John 3:1-3,
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Love still compels God and His love compels us to live according to the promise of Christmas, the promise of Immanuel, God is with us—the Love of God has come to redeem us! Listen to this powerful explanation:
In like manner, we should be compelled by the love of Christ. If our reading of Scripture, as illumined and applied by the Spirit, does not release the compelling love of Christ in us and through us, then our hearts are not right with God, and our service constitutes nothing more than ashes upon a rusty altar! For it is not our love to Christ that is in view here, but rather it is the love of Christ working in us—mastering, driving, and compelling us. It is the love of God “poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). Such compelling love never flags, never falters, never fails. It is “the expulsive power of a new affection.”[1]
We learn that the promise of love, like all of God’s promises, comes with the praxis to love in 1 John 4:7-21:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
These are the promises of Christmas—that we would walk in the same love of God’s first royal visitation. Every promise of God comes with a praxis—a lifestyle that was modeled by Jesus Christ for us to walk in. Jesus is the greatest example of love this world has ever been given. We should do likewise!
Paul teaches us about Jesus’ example of surrendering all for love in Philippians 2:5-11:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus emptied Himself by coming from Heaven to earth to show us the only way to the Father for He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). This is the promise of the first royal visitation and we are still awaiting its completion when Jesus will return. Until that Day, we are to empty ourselves so that His love can fill us.
Jesus taught us love by intentionally turning the world upside down with the love of God and introducing His Kingdom—the upside-down Kingdom where the conquering King comes through the virgin womb of a teenage bride.
Jesus invites us to turn the world upside down by loving and living like Jesus did—as witnesses of the upside-down Kingdom; the same way that the conquering King defeated the principalities and powers of this world, by allowing them to crucify Him upon that rugged old cross. Jesus was compelled by love to pay the price for our redemption—He gave us His all—He surrendered all so that what had been turned upside down could now be filled with a new life, a new love!
The key to understanding Jesus’ first royal visitation was that from the beginning to the end, it was intended to turn you upside down so that you could be emptied of your pride; so that, you can be filled with love!
We are still waiting for Jesus’ second royal visitation. Until that Day, we are called to love one another on earth as it is in Heaven—to continue the work of the upside down Kingdom, the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as misunderstood and opposed as it is by the powers and principalities of this world.
We are invited to turn the world upside down through His revolutionary love of Jesus Christ that came to earth in the womb of a poor rural teenage girl named Mary who risked everything with these faithful words of full surrender: “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
Footnotes:
[1] Stephen F. Olford and David L. Olford, Anointed Expository Preaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 301.
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Seize the Moment – Day 263
Christmas Hymn: “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”
One of my favorite versions of this song comes from the movie, “Sister Act 2”, adding some soulful singing and a gospel choir, they brought the audience to their feet. When they were done, someone said “I have never heard or seen it sung with such joy and enthusiasm! It was as if they meant every word they were singing.”
YOUTUBE:
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before You,
Op’ning to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!
Earth and heav’n reflect Your rays,
Stars and angels sing around You,
Center of unbroken praise;
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea,
Chanting bird and flowing fountain
Praising You eternally!
Ever blessing, ever blest,
Well-spring of the joy of living,
Ocean-depth of happy rest!
Loving Father, Christ our Brother,
Let Your light upon us shine;
Teach us how to love each other,
Lift us to the joy divine.
Which the morning stars began;
God’s own love is reigning o’er us,
Joining people hand in hand.
Ever singing, march we onward,
Victors in the midst of strife;
Joyful music leads us sunward
In the triumph song of life.
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Seize the Moment – Day 262
Religion or Relationship?
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, December 4.
It is my greatest desire that you will be a follower of Jesus!
Paul explains in Colossians 2:20-23, “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Paul states the uselessness of “self-made religion,” and to be completely transparent, I’m not interested in leading us in, or passing on to others, that which does not work, simply for the sake of tradition. Only Jesus saves!
So, as Paul did for the followers of Jesus in Colossae, I pray Paul’s prayer from Colossians 2:6-10 for you today: “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.”
Seize the moment and follow Jesus. Spend time with Him today.
May we each, through time spent with the Living God in prayer and study of His Word, know the difference between the trappings of man-made religion and the promises of God-given relationship.
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.
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