Seize the Moment – Day 1248
Cry Out in Praise!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, August 17.
When the religious leaders asked Jesus to rebuke His disciples for praising Him as the coming Messiah and King, Jesus answered in Luke 19:40, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” The people’s praise was rooted in Psalm 118, which is why the Pharisees were so scandalized. Listen to Boice explain the significance of what was happening:
When we remember that Psalm 118 is part of the Egyptian Hallel, that the Hallel was sung by Jews at the time of the Passover, and that it was Passover when Jesus entered Jerusalem and later died on Calvary, it is understandable that these words would have been in the minds of the people who greeted him as he entered the city. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day the lambs were being taken into the Jewish homes in preparation for the sacrifice.[1]
Here are some of the statements made in Psalm 118, from which the disciples praised God during Jesus’ triumphal entry:
- Jesus is the “chief corner stone” of verse 22 – “the stone which the builders rejected” (cf. Acts 4:8-12).
- The “Hosanna” is proclaimed in verse 25, “O Lord, do save, we beseech you” (Matthew 21:9, John 12:13).
- Verse 26 is proclaimed by the crowd, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the lord” (Matthew 21:9, John 12:13).
- Jesus is the “festival sacrifice” of verse 27, “Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (cf. 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 118, meditating upon the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ so that He would fulfill the good pleasure of His Father for our salvation. I pray for you to grow in your faith and cry out in praise. Cry out in praise of God today, or the rocks will do that work for you!
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.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 107–150: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 958.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1247
Praise the Lord, All Nations!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, August 16.
The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” The shortest chapter in the Bible is today’s psalm – Psalm 117. While it may be the shortest psalm, it is large in its scope because it proclaims the enduring faithfulness of God to reach all the nations. Today’s two-verse chapter starts and finishes with the same exhortation to all the peoples: “Praise the Lord, all nations; laud Him, all peoples! For His lovingkindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord!” It begins and ends with Hallelujah! Yahweh is to be praised by all the peoples; every nation is under His sovereign rule. This is no small declaration of faith!
As one of the Egyptian Hallel psalms, the psalmist was boldly reflecting upon God’s victory over the Egyptians and their gods, projecting God’s victory over every nation and the evil that rules them (Psalm 82). Later, in Romans 15:11, Paul quoted this promise in his apologia for his apostleship to the Gentiles, which he saw as a direct fulfillment of God’s promise to reach “all nations.” Read Paul’s triumphant prayer in Romans 15:5-13 to see why we must work for the ingathering of all the nations into the kingdom of God. This is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit through the church (Acts 3:26). This is the enduring faithfulness of God to reach all the nations, and it is happening through the church in this age of Pentecost – to fulfill the Great Commission, which Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20. This was not only Paul’s special call as an apostle, but this is every Christian’s call as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 117, meditating upon the Holy Spirit’s power in your life to be His witness today (Acts 1:8). God has called you to reach the nations, one person at a time.
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 1246
My Chains are Gone!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, August 15.
During my first two decades of pastoral ministry, I have buried a lot of people whom I love and respect – the saints of Jesus’ church. Psalm 116:15-16 captures my imagination of what it must be like for those brethren who have entered their eternal rest, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones. O Lord, surely I am Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, You have loosed my bonds.” Often, when I conduct funeral services, I read this passage in its context, starting with verse 12 and concluding in verse 19. Take time to read and experience what a beautiful liturgy it is – a call and response of God’s salvation for us and our commitments to Him.
You can experience rest in this life when you learn to live today in the truth of God’s promise for eternity. Years before her passing, Carole Hiatt, one of our dearly beloved saints shared with me that Psalm 116:7 was her life-rhythm verse, “Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” How much more has she experienced the fulness of this promise now that God has loosed the bonds of her mortal body!? She has been freed from her chains, as the NIV translates verse 16, and as Chris Tomlin’s popular chorus of Amazing Grace states. Have you put your faith and hope in Jesus Christ to rescue you from the chains of sin and death?
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 116, meditating upon God’s amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. Live freely from sin and the fear of death because Jesus has loosed your bonds so that you may experience rest for your soul for eternity and in the unforced rhythms of God’s grace today (Matthew 11:28-30).
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 1245
The Focus of Loyalty!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, August 14.
The ultimate test of your loyalty to a relationship is your focus on it. For example, a married man is a “one-woman man.” When they say yes to one another, they are saying no to all others. In the same way, God calls us to be a “one-God worshipper.” Psalm 115:1 starts, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.” When you commit your life to Jesus, you are vowing to worship Christ alone.
The proof of our focus on who or what we are worshipping is that we will become like it. God designed us to be His image bearers (Genesis 1:26-27). To fulfill this intent in and through our lives He gives us His Spirit to conform us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), who is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Therefore, for this very reason, God calls us into a relationship with Himself through Jesus – to be the light of the world, a city on a hill who reflects the glory of God (Matthew 5:14-16).
There is a grave danger in losing focus – we no longer reflect the One we were designed to become like in the first place. Psalm 115:4-8 explains the process:
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but they cannot feel; they have feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 115, meditating upon the lovingkindness of the Lord! Remove from your life today that which distracts you from true worship of God.
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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Grow Strong in God’s Grace (Wk 21)
Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
A Faith that Takes God at His Word!
Hebrews 11:32-40 (NASB)
God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created. God has entrusted His creation to His people to work as His Harvest workers – “All the world’s a field, and all the disciples of Jesus Christ merely farmers!” Therefore, let’s be faithful farmers by following the four-step strategy of a hard-working farmer: 1) cultivate people with faith; 2) sow the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds; 3) care for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants; and 4) reap a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ. This strategy must be empowered by the Holy Spirit because apart from God we cannot bear any good fruit (John 15:5). Therefore, harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace. Let’s take the first step by learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, found in Hebrews 11.
STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH
Today’s story is about Gideon, found in Hebrews 11:32-40:
And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Gideon’s story is found in Judges 6-8. What is it about this story that put Gideon in the hall of faith? In my Seize the Moment devotional on Judges 8, I posed this question, “Gideon will always be remembered as one of the heroes of faith for his military victories, as seen in Hebrews 11:32, but what should we emulate from his life?”[1] Let us pray for God to cultivate the soil of our hearts and minds, and then we will look at the next action step to answer that question.
STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE
Gideon’s story proclaims the gospel of grace in a beautiful way, and pointedly not because of Gideon himself – his is a God-story, and maybe that’s the point! It is almost as if Paul was thinking of the book of Judges when he explained how God called people according to the power of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 1:21-31:
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Today’s story of Gideon’s transforming faith builds off what we learned from Rahab last week: God chooses people on purpose! It doesn’t matter your past or present, or what other people think about you, or even what you think about yourself; when God calls, He has plans to do good works through you, just as Ephesians 2:8-10 makes clear, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Let’s look at the story of Gideon’s call to illustrate this and then we’ll move on to see how God used Him for His glory. Gideon is introduced to us and called by God in Judges 6:11-16:
Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”
Obviously, God had more faith in Gideon than Gideon had in either God or himself! Today’s lesson is about learning to trust God’s Word. Let’s take the next step to learn how this seed can grow into a faith that takes God at His Word. With Gideon, as we will see, it’s a process!
STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT
Gideon in not my hero even though he was included in the Hebrews 11 hall of faith. There are a couple men listed that I will be teaching you about who I consider counterexamples, rather than models of the faith. But I would not be considered a very good example either if all my personal times with God were recorded on paper and my doubts, fears, and bad decisions were highlighted for all to see. So, like we just learned, I choose to take God at His Word, submitting to Him and His choosing of us – aren’t we a happy family of ragamuffins… God is far more gracious and forgiving than I am, as I wouldn’t choose me, just like Gideon tried to opt out of God’s calling. I can tell you many ways that I consider myself disqualified, and that led to me delaying in answering God’s call on my life to be a pastor for five years.
But God! Watch Gideon continue to carry on with God in Judges 6:17, “So Gideon said to Him, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me.’” God responded to his request, Gideon worshipped Him, and then obeyed the Word of the Lord and faithfully accomplished God’s will (18-25). Gideon was faithful, and you think he would have learned his lesson to take God at His Word with this amazing victory. Unfortunately, he had more to learn, as we all do; it’s a process! Gideon carried on with God again, in what has probably become one of the most misapplied stories in the Bible, from Judges 6:36-40:
Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.
First off, can I just say thank you God for persevering with us in our moments of unbelief! How many times does God have to demonstrate His faithfulness to us until we get it and just trust Him enough to take Him at His Word? Secondly, can I ask that we stop normalizing Gideon’s testing of God by joining him in our metaphorical putting out of fleeces. Just because Gideon did it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. I don’t see us casting lots to choose our next pastor (ref. Acts 1:26). There are some things we find in the Bible that are descriptive of what happened, not prescriptive for what should happen. We need to learn the difference.
We are to grow in the kind of faith that takes God at His Word, which obeys Him so that we can say with Jesus, who testified of His own life in John 17:4, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” Let’s now turn to the last action step so that our lives will reap a harvest of praise to the glory of God.
STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE
Ultimately, because God is faithful, Gideon’s life reaped a harvest of praise to the glory of God for two primary reasons, and this is what I want us to learn from him and emulate:
- The battle belongs to the Lord. To participate in God’s victory and experience the spoils of it we must trust God and take Him at His Word. This is beautifully illustrated in Gideon’s story from Judges 7-8. Taking God at His Word, Gideon took his army of 22,000 fighting men down to 300 and they defeated overwhelming odds, ushering in a 40-year period of peace. It is a radical story of faith that demonstrates how much Gideon had learned to trust God and believe His Word as the way of victory.
- God is the only king. Following Gideon’s many military victories, including his political leadership to unite Israel, the people tried to make him king, even offering to make his son kings after him, but Gideon showed integrity by refusing. He declared in Judges 8:23, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.”
The peace that Gideon won both militarily and politically, as God’s chosen judge, lasted until his death, but then the people turned back to idol worship, as Judges 8:33-35 describes:
Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.
The cycle of the period of Judges continued, as the people of God entered a period of disobedience, rebellion, and oppression. It doesn’t need to be this way for the church of Jesus Christ. Every judge of Israel followed God in imperfect ways, but how is that different from us? Gideon was slow to trust God, but ultimately, every victory that He had was because He took God at His Word. Every pastor, just like every leader you look to, or try to be yourself, will be imperfect. We must learn from Gideon’s story and realize he is not in the hall of faith because he was perfect, but for his faith that led him to act upon the Word of the Lord.
We have a king, the rightful King of kings, who has established us as rightful citizens of His Kingdom. He has won us the victory over sin and death, giving us everything we need to experience His victory if only we have a faith that takes Him at His Word; we, too, must act upon the Word of the Lord. Jesus Christ speaks to you today from John 14:11-15, 21, and 23:
Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. … He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. … If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTE:
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Seize the Moment – Day 1243
Today’s new worship song focus will be
Gonna Be Alright
Romans 8:28 (NASB95)
“And we know that God causes all things to work together
for good to those who love God,
to those who are called according to His purpose.”
When was the last time you faced a difficulty, a storm or trial in your life? An hour ago? Or a day ago? Or a week ago? That is where this song comes from for Christian Music artist Ryan Ellis, as he was writing from a season of deep pain in his family. He shared the song with his friends and family, and they all could see how it spoke of God showing up and how He spoke peace into their hearts and lives.
Everything’s gonna be alright, everything’s gonna be alright
You hold me in your arms, until my storm is calm
Everything’s gonna be alright, hmmm, everything’s gonna be alright.
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:
Gonna Be Alright
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Seize the Moment – Day 1242
The Wonder-Working Power!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, August 11.
As one of the Egyptian Hallel psalms, Psalm 114 commemorates the exodus from Egypt, when God supernaturally rescued His people from slavery, but it also references their miraculous entry into the Promised Land forty years later. Verses 1-3 reference both major events, “When Israel went forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion. The sea looked and fled; the Jordan turned back.” In naming both “the sea” and “the Jordan,” the psalmist demonstrated God’s finished work of redemption, from the time of Moses when he led the Israelites out of slavery (Exodus 14:13-31), to the time of Joshua when they crossed into the Promised Land (Joshua 3). While history demonstrates that the Israelites had a long way to go in conquering the peoples of the Promised Land, God had miraculously brought them into it after forty years of signs and wonders, bookended by the splitting of both the Red Sea and the Jordan River.
Never forget that the wonder-working power of God is on your side! After God split the Red Sea for them to escape an enraged Pharoah, the people proclaimed of their God in Exodus 15:11, “Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?” They named it – apart from God’s redemption, they would not have been delivered from slavery nor escaped certain destruction on the shore of the Red Sea. Do you know your absolute need for the wonder-working power of God in your life today? Apart from God’s redemption through Jesus Christ, there is no forgiveness of sin and each of us must face certain death as we approach the shores of eternity.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 114, meditating upon the wonder-working power of Jesus Christ, “which mightily works within [you]” (Colossians 1:29). Walk by the Spirit today (Galatians 5; Romans 8)!
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 1241
The God of the Great Rescue!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, August 10.
Have you experienced the Great Rescue? Psalms 113-118 are called the Egyptian Hallel, sung by the Jewish people at their celebrations of the Passover. While this first psalm of the Hallel does not overtly reference the exodus itself, it does describe the goodness of God to reverse the fortunes of those who are downtrodden. Verses 7-9 tell of His awesome deeds, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of His people. He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!”
Psalm 113 is a call to praise the God of the Great Rescue. The psalmist called us to worship from the first verse, “Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.” The psalmist was declaring the heart of his song, “You are free to praise the God of the Great Rescue, who delivered you from hundreds of years of slavery. O servants of the Lord, you are no longer servants of Pharoah!” You have been made free, so you are free indeed!
In 1 Peter 2:10, those who have experienced the Great Rescue of Jesus Christ are told of the reversal of their fortunes: “for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” It is for this reason that Jesus Christ came; He is the second Moses and His death on the cross is the fulfillment of all the promises of the Passover!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 113, meditating upon the freedom you have received through the Great Rescue of Jesus Christ – “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
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 1240
Hallelujah! (Part 2)
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, August 9.
God is made known through people who reflect His goodness – we become His handiwork for all to see (Ephesians 2:10). Like the moon reflects the brilliance of the sun, so we are to reflect the glory of God! This is the call and response of Psalms 111 and 112. Boyce made an insightful connection that teaches us about the importance of our response to “Hallelujah!”:
Psalm 112 is also an acrostic poem, following a pattern identical to Psalm 111; in fact, the two psalms are an obviously matched pair. The first is an acrostic poem about God; the second is an acrostic poem about the godly man. The specific verbal contents of the two psalms match even more than the patterns, for what is said about God in the first of these psalms is affirmed of the godly man in the second, which is a way of saying, “You will become like the god you worship. If you worship a false god or idol, you will become like your false god. But if you worship the true God of the Bible, you will become strong, gracious, compassionate, righteous, generous, just, and steadfast, as he is.”[1]
Psalm 112:1 bridges the two psalms overtly, “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.” These paired acrostic poems start with the same call to worship, “Hallelujah!” But, unlike in part 1, today’s psalm calls for the godly person to be the good work of redemption that God can put on display for all to see and respond in praise! When you praise the Lord, you become His handiwork!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 112, meditating upon God’s purpose for saving you – “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). How are you practically putting God on display 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.
FOOTNOTE:
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Seize the Moment – Day 1239
Hallelujah! (Part 1)
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, August 8.
God has made Himself known to us through the goodness of His works, put on display for all to see. Psalm 111 is a call to worship, starting in verse 1, “Praise the Lord!” This command is the Hebrew word, “Hallelujah,” which is used twenty-four times in the Psalms. Interestingly, while it is used widely in Christian worship, it is only found four times in the New Testament, all of which are in Revelation 19 (1, 3-4, 6).
Today’s call to worship is designed to focus the worshippers’ eyes on the good works of a faithful God, as we hear in Psalm 111:2-4, “Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.” When we see God’s works, we see God. When we see God, we worship! That is the logic of worship, because, as we will see in Psalm 112, we are designed by God to become like that which we worship. God intentionally placed before us His handiwork within creation, history, and salvation so that we would be enraptured in our call to worship every which way we turn.
Today’s call to worship concludes in verse 10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever” (cf. Job 28:28; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; Ecclesiastes 12:13). Reverence and awe of the Lord is the good fruit of right worship. This is the essential ingredient to life – a right perspective of God leads us into worship of Him, and right worship conforms us into His image!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 111, meditating upon the goodness of God made visible through His works – “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).
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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