Sing the New Song of the Suffering Servant!

Isaiah 42

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, February 8.

The first of the four Suffering Servant Songs is found in Isaiah 42:1-9, followed by a song of praise, which begins with a command in verse 10, “Sing to the Lord a new song, sing His praise from the end of the earth!” This same phrase was used in Psalm 98 as a call to the God of Mission to bring His salvation to all the nations. What a triumphant conclusion to the prophecy of the Messiah, foretelling His responsibility to establish God’s justice in the Earth, as Isaiah 42 proclaims:

Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not be disheartened or crushed until He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law. … I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, and I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison. … Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.

Seize the moment and sing the new song of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ – “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

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.

(Pastor Ken)

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.

The Beginning and the End!

Isaiah 41

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, February 7.

From the first to the last chapter of the Revelation of John, we hear Jesus described this way, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13; cf. 1:8, 17; 2:8; 21:6). This name of God was introduced in Isaiah, as God’s answer to a rhetorical question about who had caused the uprising of the nations; Isaiah 41:2-4 was specifically referring to Cyrus king of Persia. Twice in Isaiah 41, God asks such a rhetorical question. The first time is in verse 4, “Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’” The second time began the conclusion of today’s chapter, verses 26-29:

Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know? Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”? Surely there was no one who declared, surely there was no one who proclaimed, surely there was no one who heard your words. Formerly I said to Zion, “Behold, here they are.” And to Jerusalem, “I will give a messenger of good news.” But when I look, there is no one, and there is no counselor among them who, if I ask, can give an answer. Behold, all of them are false; their works are worthless, their molten images are wind and emptiness.

Wouldn’t you expect the answer to the second rhetorical question to parallel that of the first one? Instead, God contrasted Himself with the false gods of the nations, who are merely idols. While there is an unfortunate chapter break here, the truth is that the quote never closes, and God gives us the first of the four Suffering Servant Songs in Isaiah 42:1-9. He does provide the couplet we were waiting for, and we learn that the One who is “the beginning and the end” is the Suffering Servant of Israel.

Seize the moment and trust Jesus as “the beginning and the end!”

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.

Go Tell it on a Mountain!

Isaiah 40

I love the African-American spiritual, “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” It is a beautiful Christmas song that was first published by John W. Work, Jr. in 1907. While its bulletin blurb does not include a reference to the ancient prophecies of Isaiah, I believe it could have been inspired by Isaiah 40:9-11:

Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

We are to proclaim the coming of the Messiah from not only Mt. Zion, but from every mountain top in every nation (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). “Go Tell It on the Mountain” describes the shepherds who first heard the angelic proclamation of the birth of Jesus Christ, but it also commands us to declare this good news. Powerfully, in Isaiah 40:3-5, right before this evangelistic call of the coming of the Messiah, Isaiah gave the promise which was fulfilled by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:2-3, who cried out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, ‘The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!” ’ ” Truly, John told it on a mountain, bearing the good news and lifted up the coming of the Messiah mightily, without fear of his own death.

Seize the moment and go tell it on a mountain!

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.

Boast in the Lord!

Isaiah 39

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, February 5.

The final chapter in Isaiah’s “Book of Hezekiah,” composed of Isaiah 36-39, foreshadows the emphasis of the remaining chapters of Isaiah – the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian Empire. Little did King Hezekiah know that he would set the stage for such a great calamity, a century prior to it occurring, through a simple act of pride – the sin of boasting. Isaiah 39:2 records his actions, “Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.”

At best, Hezekiah was naïve, but that is difficult to believe knowing his story. Most likely, Hezekiah was trying to impress a potential ally against Assyria, trusting in the military adage, “An enemy of my enemy, is a friend.” That was not true in the case of the Babylonians. After entertaining the son of the Babylonian king and showing him everything in his kingdom, Isaiah rebuked him with a word from the Lord in Isaiah 39:6, “Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left.”

Seize the moment and boast in the Lord, not in your wisdom, might, or wealth, for everything you have is from God. As Jeremiah, a prophet who lived through the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, quoted of God, “Let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Importantly, Paul quoted Jeremiah in 1 Corinthian 1:31 and 2 Corinthians 10:17.

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.

Today’s worship song focus :

They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love

John 13:35 (NASB95)            

A favorite song of the late 1960’s and early 70’s, it was written by a young Catholic priest by the name of Peter Raymond Scholtes. Taken from the words that Jesus gave His disciples in John 13, Scholtes wanted to show the connection between the church and its role in the life of the world. While it had a folk style of music, he wanted to connect the faith story of the church’s young people to the disheartened landscape of the culture in America.

We need to wake up and take to heart the words of this song. It is an important part of the message of grace, hope and love that we are to share with our part of the world and beyond. That is when we will truly see our mission of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ being fulfilled.

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 HERE

They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love

Set Your House in Order!

Isaiah 38

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, February 2.

If I came to you, saying, “You had better get your house in order.” How would you respond? This is the situation Hezekiah found himself in Isaiah 38:1, “In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.” ’ ” Hezekiah wept bitterly. Through his tears, he cried out, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your sight” (3). He responded to his crisis with prayer. Just like in Isaiah 37, when Hezekiah did not run to Egypt for rescue, now, in Isaiah 38, he did not run to doctors for a cure. Again, he threw himself at the mercy of God, who responded to his humility in verses 5-8:

“Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, ‘I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.’” This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken: Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.”

God moved back the shadow to emphasize that it was He who healed Hezekiah. This was not the work of a doctor; this was the intervention of a merciful God.

Seize the moment and throw yourself at the mercy of God! This is the way to get your house in order, no matter the circumstance.

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 Enemy at the Gate!

Isaiah 37

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, February 1.

There was an enemy at the gate of Jerusalem. The emissary of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, had left his ultimatum – surrender or be sacked! The leaders brought the message to King Hezekiah, and he responded in Isaiah 37:1-2, “he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.” He led his nation in seeking God for rescue and deliverance from the enemy at the gate. What a godly leader!

The prophet Isaiah gave Hezekiah God’s answer in Isaiah 37:6-7, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’” When you read through the words of the emissary in Isaiah 36, you see what the Lord was referring to, as Sennacherib went too far in his mandate to execute God’s righteous judgments and had taken on grandiose notions of his person and empire (23-29). God kept His word and sent forth the angel of the Lord to destroy the Assyrian army camped outside the gate of Jerusalem, and Sennacherib died at the hands of his own sons, in the temple of his false God in Nineveh (36-38). God’s justice was poetic, and it all came about because Hezekiah asked for God’s assistance in his crisis, as recorded in verses 21-35, “Because you have prayed to Me … I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.”

Seize the moment and pray about the enemy at the gate, trusting God for His victory!

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 Book of Hezekiah!

Isaiah 36

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 31.

Just like Isaiah 6-8 described the historical situation of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry at the time of King Uzziah’s death, so Isaiah 36-39 narrate the crisis of King Hezekiah’s kingship when Assyria invaded Judah. That is why these four chapters are nicknamed, “The Book of Hezekiah;” they are different than the rest of Isaiah. Isaiah 36:1 places you immediately into the drama, “Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.” The parallel accounts of this historical event are found in 2 Kings 18:13-20:19 and 2 Chronicles 32, as you will find connections between these devotions in Isaiah and the ones done on those chapters in the history books.

In Isaiah 36:10, Rabshakeh, the emissary of Sennacherib, delivered a message to Hezekiah, speaking to the men on the wall of Jerusalem in their own language, “Have I now come up without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’” He wasn’t lying! As we have already learned, God did send Assyria against Israel to be “the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hands is My indignation” (Isaiah 10:5), but in his greed and pride, Sennacherib reached too far – God did not intend for Assyria to take Jerusalem from His people; it was not yet the appointed time for the destruction of Jerusalem, which wouldn’t come for another 125 years at the hands of Babylon. God had placed a godly king, Hezekiah, on the seat of David. The defenders of Jerusalem did not allow themselves to be intimated; rather, they went to Hezekiah to report to him the words of the emissary (21-22). Together, the leaders sought God’s guidance (see Isaiah 37).

Seize the moment and seek God for the courage you need to stand up against evil (James 4:7).

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 Highway of Holiness!

Isaiah 35

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 30.

Traveling in the United States is reliable because of our safe and secure highways. You can drive from coast to coast with very little hassle; I know because I’ve done it twice. Because of this, we take this ease of travel for granted, but this would not have been the situation in antiquity; hence, the glorious imagery of the Highway of Holiness, as described in Isaiah 35:8-10:

A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it; these will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

The Highway of Holiness symbolically describes God’s redemptive work amongst a fractured people in a hostile land; it’s the prescribed way of returning to the place of God’s presence (Zion). In Isaiah 40:3, we learn that it would be established by the Messiah, “A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God’” (cf. Matthew 3:1-3). In Hebrews 10:19-20, the Bible makes it clear that it was accomplished at the cross, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.”

Seize the moment and draw near to God on the Highway of Holiness – Jesus testifies in John 14:6 that He is the only way to get to the right destination!

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.