The blog contains daily devotions and notes from the weekly messages.  We encourage you to review the notes during the sermon or through the week!  Most of the posts will have an audio and/or video link at the end of the notes.  From time to time the pastors will share other insights and devotions here.
 
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Seize the Moment – Day 1140

Discern a Right Relationship with God!

Psalm 40

 

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

 

Do you have a right relationship with God, or are you just acknowledging Him with your religious observances? David discerned the distinction in Psalm 40:6-8:

 

Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; my ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

 

These words might be familiar to you because they are applied to Jesus Christ in Hebrews 10:5-10. It was Jesus’ obedience on the cross which “once for all” fulfilled the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant. Today’s psalm highlighted the biblical principle that obedience takes priority over sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 1:10-17; Jeremiah 7:21-26; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8). This principle was made visible through the obedience of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross (Philippians 2:5-11). Paul stated in Romans 5:19, “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

 

God desires for His people to have a right relationship with Him. He wants you to know Him intimately, walking with Him in His way, not acknowledge Him through your religious activity as you walk in your own way. Today’s psalm prophesied of how we would have a right relationship with God. Jeremiah 31:33 makes the way clear, “‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’” (cf. Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26).

 

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 40, meditating upon the promise of a right relationship with God, written on your heart by the “Spirit of the living God” (2 Corinthians 3:1-4).

 

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 


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Grow Strong in God’s Grace – Wk 10

Grow Strong in God’s Grace: Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!

The Faith that Gives Substance to your Life

Hebrews 11:7 (NAS95)

 

 

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 faith 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! Therefore, harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace. Let’s take the first step by walking through the Hall of Faith, learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11.

 

STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH

 

Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1-2, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men [and women] of old gained approval.” Today’s passage from Hebrews 11:7 illustrates the life of faith with the third transforming story in the Hall of Faith, from which we are going to learn how to grow strong in God’s grace:

 

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.

 

Just like you and me, today, Noah was a real man, with real faith, in real history, and his story began with a faith that pleased God. Noah’s faith brought substance through things not yet seen! His story is told in Genesis 5:28-9:29. Listen to what Noah’s father prophesied over him at his birth in Genesis 5:29, “Now he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.’” Noah was born for such a time at this! In Genesis 6:5-8, after hearing that the Nephilim were upon the Earth at this time, we learn God’s verdict:

 

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 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.

 

Today, we are going to learn what it was that gave Noah favor in God’s eyes. In those evil days, Noah had faith, and when God called upon him to act, Noah’s obedience put substance on his faith. Here’s the principle I want you to learn today: If your faith has no substance, it will not provide your life with sustenance!

 

STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE

 

We use words like faith, grace, and good works a lot in the church. One of my favorite passages that combines all three is from Ephesians 2:8-10:

 

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.

 

These words give your life value, meaning, and purpose, but what happens when those words become empty to you? What happens when the promises of God ring hollow in your heart and mind? Has faith become an empty word to you? Have good works become an exhausting tread mill of fleshly striving to you?

 

Allow me to illustrate with this empty jar: this empty jar is our cruise fund and I hope that if I put enough change into it, we will be able to go on a cruise. Let’s be honest, this empty jar has as much potential to get us on a cruise, as an empty word can lead us to live a life that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). The comparison is obviously not perfect, but I think you get the point: we use the word faith all the time, but the word must have substance to transform anything. As James said in James 2:26, “faith without works is dead.”  

 

Today, God is going to put some substance in our potentially empty jars through the story of Noah, the man of God, through whom God judged the world for sin, but preserved a righteous root through faith. Listen to God call Noah to substantiate his faith in Genesis 6:17-21:

 

Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.

 

Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible! Noah responded to the Word of God in Genesis 6:22, “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.” In building the ark, God preserved humanity through Noah’s seed of faith – through his three sons and their wives, whom God commanded to be put on the ark with all the animals and birds of His beloved creation. God made a way through faith – that is God’s grace at work through a person of faith!

 

 

 

STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT

 

Whether it took Noah 55-75 years[1] or over a century to build the Ark, the reality is that Noah was called by God to build an ark at a time when God’s command would not have made sense to either Noah, anyone in his family, and definitely not anyone in his community.

 

What motivated Noah to persevere in the building of the ark? The answer is found in 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.” The key concept is “in reverence,” or as it is translated in the NIV, “holy fear,” in the ESV, “reverent fear,” and in the CSB, “godly fear.” Eugene Peterson described it this way in The Message, “His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world.”

 

The same Greek root word translated “reverence” is applied to Jesus in Hebrews 5:7-8, “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” [emphasis added] Jesus was heard by the Father because of “His piety” – His reverence or holy fear!

 

We must have the same “reverence” or “piety” if we want to be like Noah; if we want to be like Jesus; if we want to have the same kind of faith that would compel a man to be seen as crazy for his God in a world that does not accept faith as adequate reasoning for doing anything, nevertheless counter-cultural things. Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Is your life bearing the good fruit of faith? Jesus taught in Matthew 7:16-20:

 

“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.

 

Noah’s faith is proven true by the substance of the fruit of his obedience when the flood came in Genesis 7. The conclusion of the matter is found in Genesis 7:23, “Thus [God] 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.”

 

The proof was in the pudding! Noah’s faith was substantiated because for 55-75 years, Noah was ridiculed for acting upon the promise of God and nurturing the faith of his wife and three sons, and their wives. Noah and his family acted out their faith by building an ark, every day for 55-75 years (a lifetime of faith for us by today’s adult life spans), and through their faith God preserved the righteous root of humanity. That is why Hebrews 11:7 stated of Noah, he “became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

 

In the same way, God has planted a good seed of faith into your life so that you will mature into a life that bears fruit, testifying to who you are (a disciple) – a witness of God’s grace bestowed upon you by Jesus Christ. In the same way that Noah’s faith brought substance to the way of salvation, so can yours. That takes us to the last action step.

 

STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE

 

The life of growing strong in God’s grace leads to a harvest of praise! Jesus said in John 15:8, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” The author of Hebrews concluded that Noah became “an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Noah’s life reaped a harvest of praise! Watch Noah’s first activity after he and his family got off the ark in Genesis 8:20-22:

 

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.”

 

Noah’s life reaped a harvest a praise – He offered God a right sacrifice of praise! Then, in Genesis 9:1, 12-13 God restored onto Noah and his sons the Genesis Commission He had originally given Adam, and then God gave a sign of His covenant with humanity through Noah:

 

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” … God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.”

 

What next steps of faith will allow you to be like Noah – an heir of righteousness?

 

Noah’s transforming story teaches us to live with a reverence that seizes the moment.[2] The faith that brings substance to your life is your belief in an unchanging holy and sovereign God, which allows you to live by faith day by day, situation by situation, moment by moment. John described such belief in 1 John 5:4-5, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

 

Hold up the empty jar: The first step to having substance in your faith is to know God and what He has already put inside of you – the victory of His faith through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit! Inside of you is the priceless treasure of God’s presence. God willingly and lovingly has put into your jar of clay the gift of eternal life through which you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, according to Ephesians 1:13-14:

 

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

When God Himself is the substance of your faith, your faith will give you the sustenance necessary to face your everyday life circumstances like Noah.

 

As you grow strong in God’s grace, you will embrace the Noah moments of your life and seize the moment. The pressure is not on you to perform or add substance to your own faith; this substance is the work of God in you – it is the sustenance of God’s grace at work in you through the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit! 

 

Allow me to pray over you a disciple’s holy ambition, from the testimony of Paul in Philippians 3:7-11:

 

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

Noah’s transforming story of faith strengthens our faith, gives us hope, and gives us the courage to tell a better story with our stories. To make visible that which is invisible – the kingdom of God on Earth as it is in Heaven! May we reap a harvest of praise as our stories are transformed through the gospel of Jesus Christ!

 
 

You can watch this message by clicking HERE.

 
 

FOOTNOTES:

 

[1] Bodie Hodge, “How Long Did It Take for Noah to Build the Ark?” Answers in Genesis https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/how-long-did-it-take-for-noah-to-build-the-ark/ (Accessed April 28, 2023).

[2] We have been learning how to seize the moment through my daily devotions that I have been writing and providing to the congregation starting in March 2020. AGF Publishing has published these as the Seize the Moment devotional series, of which the third book (2 Kings – Psalms) is expected to be available in October 2023.
 
 
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1138

Today’s hymn focus will be

All Creatures of Our God and King

 

Luke 19:40 (NASB95)

 
 
 

  But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

 

This hymn is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi written just before his death in 1225 AD, exhorting all creation to worship God. Born in Italy to a rich merchant in 1182 AD, he came to Christ in his early 20’s after being released from the prisoner of war camp. Renouncing his inheritance, he began traveling the countryside, preaching the gospel to everyone he met, seeking to make Christ real, while living simply and loving nature.

 

It wasn’t until 1919 that an English version appeared when Rev. William H Draper used it for a children’s worship festival in Leeds, England.

 

        All creature of our God and King,

Lift up your voice and with us sing

Alleluia, Alleluia

 

This was not a new concept! He was reflecting upon the words of the psalmist in Psalm 148! We need to wake up and do exactly what this psalm challenges us to do…Praise Him each day! All of creation is doing it, and everything that has breath is supposed to. So why aren’t you joining in the heavenly chorus to worship the One Who created us all?
 
 
 

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 

If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:

 
 

All Creatures of Our God and King

 
VERSE 1
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou, burning sun with golden beam
Thou, silver moon with softer gleam
O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
 
VERSE 2
Let all things their Creator bless
And worship Him in humbleness
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son
And praise the Spirit, Three-in-One
O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
 
VERSE 3
All the redeemed washed by His blood
Come and rejoice in His great love
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Christ has defeated every sin
Cast all your burdens now on Him
O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
 
VERSE 4
He shall return in pow’r to reign
Heaven and earth will join to say
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Then who shall fall on bended knee?
All creatures of our God and King
O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
 
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1137

Praying with the Perspective of Eternity!

Psalm 39

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 28.

 

I watched the preacher stretch a long rope from end to end of the sanctuary. The white rope was very long, and there was a single red spot on it. The rope represented eternity, and the little red dot was the length of a life lived on Earth. His illustration was unforgettable, and I have pondered the shortness of my life in perspective to the immensity of eternity ever since. What is the purpose of the life we have been granted?

 

David asked for perspective in the midst of his suffering in Psalm 39:4-5, “Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.”

 

When we pray this psalm, we are invited to ponder the shortness of our own lives. This is not a morbid exercise designed to depress you, but a joyful one purposed to give you hope. As David expressed in verses 6-7, “Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.” It is important to live with the perspective of eternity in mind, like looking out over the immensity of the Grand Canyon and having your breath taken away by its sheer majesty. The suffering experienced in this life, and just as easily as the pleasures, can cause a person to lose focus on what it is God has given us life for in the first place – to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever!

 

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 39, meditating upon the perspective of eternity (Hebrews 11:13-16).

 

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1136

How to Pray When You Feel Like Job!

Psalm 38

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, April 27.

 

What do you do when you feel like Job? How are you to pray when going through intense times of pain and suffering? David lamented of his sickness and suffering in Psalm 38:6-11:

 

I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long. For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am benumbed and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You. My heart throbs, my strength fails me; and the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me. My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my kinsmen stand afar off.

 

Doesn’t David sound like Job in this Psalm? He was miserable in his suffering, but, like Job, he suffered with faith (Job 1:21-11). In Palm 38:15, David proclaimed his faith, “For I hope in You, O Lord; You will answer, O Lord my God.” He concluded in verses 20-21, “Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, do not be far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!” Both David and Job had to wait upon the Lord to rescue them through their period of pain and suffering. Within their testimonies, we find the key to our suffering – securing our hope in God. Pray with faith through the dark nights of torment and the cold winters of suffering. Fight for hope with every ounce of your being. Faith brings light to dark places!

 

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 38, meditating upon the mercy of God – “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

 

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1135

Hand in Hand with God!

Psalm 37

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 26.

 

I don’t know about you, but I am feeling exhausted right now. The more tired I get, the harder I push myself to keep up with my normal workflow and productivity goals. It feels like I have strapped myself into an unceasing tread mill. What happens to you when the pace and expectations you have set for yourself, or others have set for you, are too much to maintain?

 

The Holy Spirit spoke into this place of my exhaustion with Psalm 37:7-9:

 

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.

 

This passage called me to get off the treadmill. I have been guilty, once again, of going for weeks in the hard yoke of success, and I am weary! I find myself simply wanting to take a break from it all, in hopes of finding relief, instead of seizing the moment on the promise of finding rest for my soul (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus calls us to walk with Him in His easy yoke – to learn from Him how to be gentle and humble in heart. Psalm 37:23-24 promises, “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.” God does not call you to work for Him, but to walk with Him, hand in hand!

 

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 37, meditating upon the invitation of God to find rest in Him. Take a nap. Take a day off. Cancel a meeting. Go for a walk. Rest in Jesus’ easy yoke!

 

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 
 
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1134

Pray for your Heart’s Desire!

Psalm 36

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 25.

 

People often ask me if it is okay for them to pray for what they want. I think so; in fact, we are invited to come to God as our heavenly Father. A good father wants to know what’s on his children’s hearts and minds. Jesus emphasized this in His teaching on prayer in Matthew 7:9-11:

 

Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

 

God wants you to pray for your heart’s desire, and in asking Him, He (and you) will hear what it is you are seeking (Matthew 7:7-8). One of my favorite blessings to pray over someone is, “May God give you the desires of your heart, may all that you desire be found in Christ alone.” While it names the inclination of every human heart to come to God to have their desires met, it simultaneously prescribes that God is all that we need. God is our sufficiency! He is the wellspring of life and blessing, the Source of all good gifts, as David expressed in Psalm 36:8-9, “They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light” (cf. Psalm 37:4).

 

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 36, meditating upon God as the fountain of life – “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17).

 

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
 
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1133

Pray for Your Enemies!

Psalm 35

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 24.

 

Have you ever been upset at a person because he was causing pain and suffering in your life? Of course you have; haven’t we all gotten upset at the malicious or callous behavior of others? Psalm 35 is one of the imprecatory psalms, one in which the author invoked God’s anger and judgment upon his enemies. Verses 4-8 capture David’s imprecation:

 

Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life; let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me. Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my soul. Let destruction come upon him unawares, and let the net which he hid catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall.

 

How are we to deal with our anger and frustration at people as New Covenant believers? How can we pray Psalm 35 as followers of Jesus, when Jesus commanded us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-46; Luke 6:27-38)? The key is to remember that there is only one enemy, and it’s never another person – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). See the person, or group of people, who you see as evil, or doing evil, and pray for God to rescue and deliver them.

 

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 35, meditating upon the love of God that covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8) – don’t repay evil for evil, but do good by praying for your enemies (1 Peter 3:8-17).

 

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 
 

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Grow Strong in God’s Grace – Wk 9

Grow Strong in God’s Grace: Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!

The Faith that Pleases God

Hebrews 11:4-6 (NAS95)

 
 

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 and entrusted us to work in 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 cultivating people with faith, sowing the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds, caring for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants, and reaping a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ. This is the strategy of a faithful farmer for God’s harvest, powered by the Holy Spirit!

 

Harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace by walking through these four steps of this strategy. Let’s take the first step by walking through the Hall of Faith, learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11.

 

STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH

 

Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1-2, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men [and women] of old gained approval.” Today’s passage from Hebrews 11:4-6 builds upon this definition, while illustrating it with the first two transforming stories from which we are going to learn how to grow strong in God’s grace:

 

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

 

Just like you and me, today, the “men [and women] of old” were real people – Abel and Enoch were real men, with real faith, in real history, and even their stories began with faith. But just like with them, we can’t remain at the starting point of our story, we must take the next step of faith. Faith is what made these men’s great; they are not great in and of themselves! The Bible never exalts men and women; rather, the Bible glorifies the God who uplifts men and women through the gift of faith to be used for His divine purposes. Today, you are invited to have faith like Abel and Enoch, so that you, too, can take the next steps in your faith life “to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is rewarder of those who seek Him.”

 

STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE

 

Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible – the kingdom of Heaven on Earth! God’s grace at work in our lives sows the assurance that God can and will do that which God promises to do! Let’s see how that worked with Abel. Hebrews 11:4 teaches, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” I love this testimony: “Through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” Wow! Abel’s transforming story continues to proclaim the importance of offering God right sacrifices, as seen in Genesis 4:1-8:

 

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. 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.” Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

 

Both his life and testimony were cut short, literally, by his older brother Cain. Abel did nothing to deserve death. Cain became jealous because Abel’s offering was accepted by God, and his was not. From the beginning of the human saga, we see the curse of sin deeply rooted in the human condition, but we also find the seed of faith to choose a different path – God’s grace illuminates the way of faith that is counted to us as righteousness. Abel set apart the first fruits of his life for God and God accepted his sacrifice. We are called to be living sacrifices, as Paul urges us in Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

 

Abel’s story calls you to live differently – to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). While it appears that Abel was rewarded for his faith by being murdered, there is more to the story, much more! The story of those with faith lives on and continues to tell the better story of God, well beyond what appears to be the end of our stories here on earth. Just as Hebrews 12:1 communicates of these people from the Hall of Faith, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” The same will be true for our lives, as we grow strong in God’s grace.

 

You are invited to be like Abel, a living sacrifice to God’s glory that allows your story to speak even when you feel like your story is being cut short by injury, injustice, heartache, hardship, disease, or death. When we sow with the good seed of God’s grace, then our stories tell a better story! Never forget that God loves to create something from nothing – trust Him to do so with your life. Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible – the kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We will now turn to the third action step of a farmer’s strategy and learn from the transforming story of Enoch.

 

STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT

 

God has planted a good seed of faith into your life so that you will mature and bear fruit, testifying to what you are (a disciple) and to whom you belong – to be a witness of God’s grace bestowed upon you by Jesus Christ. When you first believe and put your trust in Jesus your life is forever changed because you are made new – born again as a new kind of plant because the good seed has been planted into your heart and mind. Paul expressed this in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20:

 

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

 

We are to mature into ambassadors for Christ! Our maturing faith causes us to become witnesses of God’s grace. Hebrews 11:5 teaches us the transforming story of Enoch, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” The Enoch being referred to here is the one found in the generations leading up to Noah in Genesis 5:19-24 (as opposed to Cain’s son in Genesis 4:17):

 

Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

 

We learn more about Enoch from our New Testament passage than we do from the Genesis account. Genesis 5:24 stated with finality, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” That’s it! There are many traditions built round Enoch and multiple books written in his name, but no authoritative knowledge about him beyond this. We find only one historical parallel to Enoch’s story: the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11,“As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.” He went to be with the Lord without dying just like Enoch. While we don’t see Enoch again, Elijah had the honor of being chosen to stand next to Jesus in the Transfiguration, alongside of Moses (Matthew 17:1-9). That places Enoch in a very prestigious position of notoriety – Enoch is a witness to a life that pleases God, the life of faith.

 

Followers of Jesus Christ are given the promise to be like Enoch when Jesus raptures His church, to bring those who please Him home to Heaven without having to taste of death. This promise is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

 

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

  

You are invited to be like Enoch, a wholehearted person to God’s promises whose trust in God allows you to be a hope-bearer in a world that so desperately needs the grace of God. Choose faith, hope, and love – the currencies of Heaven – even when confronted with the evil in this world, including the ever-intimidating reality of death and dying. Never forget, that as an ambassador of Christ you are not a doomsdayer, but a hope-bearer!

 

STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE

 

The life of growing strong in God’s grace leads to a harvest of praise! Praise God for Jesus Christ who has defeated death and given us the promise of the resurrection and life. Jesus said 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?”

 

The author of Hebrews concluded about Abel and Enoch’s transforming stories, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” What next steps of faith will allow you to be like Enoch – a wholehearted person to God’s promises? What next steps in faith will allow you to be like Abel – a living sacrifice to God’s glory?

 

Abel and Enoch’s stories strengthen our faith, give us hope, and give us the courage to tell a better story with our story! Do you have confidence in what God has promised you through the seed of faith He has given you? Are you growing strong in God’s grace? May we reap a harvest of praise as our stories are transformed through the gospel of Jesus Christ!
 
 

You can watch this video by clicking HERE.

 
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1131

Today’s modern hymn focus will be

Christ Our Hope in Life and Death

 1 Corinthians 15:20(NASB95)   

 

 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”

 

This modern-day hymn was written in 2020 by a group of songwriters from the Getty Music group. In a time where things in life appeared to be dark and grim, they wanted to create a song that reminds us of the hope of the resurrection. Our hope comes from putting our trust in the One who took on death, then crushed its power by His resurrection. We as Christians can sing hallelujah because we have the hope and promise of a glorious future.

 

            What is our hope in life and death? Christ alone, Christ alone.

            What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him belong

 

We need to wake up and ask ourselves this question: What is our only comfort in life and death? It is our blessed hope and faith in Jesus! That is the only statement that can transform how we live each day.
 
 

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.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 

If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:

 

Christ Our Hope in Life and Death

 

What is our hope in life and death?
Christ alone, Christ alone.
What is our only confidence?
That our souls to him belong.
Who holds our days within his hand?
What comes, apart from his command?
And what will keep us to the end?
The love of Christ, in which we stand.

 

(Chorus)
O sing hallelujah!
Our hope springs eternal;
O sing hallelujah!
Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death.
 
What truth can calm the troubled soul?
God is good, God is good.
Where is his grace and goodness known?
In our great Redeemer’s blood.
Who holds our faith when fears arise?
Who stands above the stormy trial?
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
Unto the shore, the rock of Christ?
 

Unto the grave, what shall we sing?
“Christ, he lives; Christ, he lives!”
And what reward will heaven bring?
Everlasting life with him.
There we will rise to meet the Lord,
Then sin and death will be destroyed,
And we will feast in endless joy,
When Christ is ours forevermore.

 
 
 

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