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Seize the Moment – Day 1114
Meditate on the Cross!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 5.
One of my favorite Good Fridays was when I was serving in pastoral ministry in Sunnyvale, California. I spent the day memorizing Psalm 22, while hiking in the beautiful foothills above the Silicon Valley. Why did I choose Psalm 22 to meditate upon? There is no better person to explain the majesty of “The Psalm of the Cross” than C. H. Spurgeon:
[Psalm 22] may have been actually repeated word by word by our Lord when hanging on the tree; it would be too bold to say that it was so, but even a casual reader may see that it might have been. It begins with, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” and ends, according to some, in the original with “It is finished.” … It is the photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours, the record of his dying words, the lachrymatory of his last tears, the memorial of his expiring joys. … Before us we have a description both of the darkness and of the glory of the cross, the sufferings of Christ and the glory which shall follow. Oh for grace to draw near and see this great sight! We should read reverently, putting off our shoes from off our feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for if there be holy ground anywhere in Scripture it is in this Psalm.[1]
I invite you to prioritize time becoming familiar with Psalm 22, and while doing so to turn to its fulfillment in the Gospel of Matthew 27:33-56. May your soul ascend to the heavens as you praise God for the passion of the Christ.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 22, meditating upon the crucifixion of Jesus Christ – “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
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.
FOOTNOTE:
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Seize the Moment – Day 1113
Pray for our Leaders!
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Seize the Moment – Day 1112
Boast in the Lord!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 3.
David declared the victory of the Lord in Psalm 20:7, “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.” This truth is expressed again by Solomon in Proverbs 21:31, “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord.” David and Solomon knew this truth and declared it, while simultaneously building up mighty armies in defense of their nation. In fact, David had so much blood on his hands from fighting in battles, that God would not allow him to build the temple (1 Chronicles 22:7-8).
While Israel’s leaders were responsible for the good of the people, their only hope for victory was in God. Moses knew this and boasted in the victory of God, recorded in Exodus 15:2-3, after Pharaoh’s army of chariots were swallowed in the Red Sea:
I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name.
In God we trust! This is the only hope for our nation – to believe in Him, to boast in His name, and to trust in what He has done to secure our victory! If we boast in our economic prosperity, our powerful military, our social justice, or our technological advancement, we will surely perish in our pride. While leaders must act to ensure the protection and prosperity of their people, they should never forget who gets all the glory! This is where our nation has gone astray, and we must repent!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 20, meditating upon the victory of God in Jesus Christ – boast in His nail-scared hands, not in the works of your own hands (Galatians 6:14).
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 1110
Today’s modern-day hymn focus will be
Hosanna!
Matthew 21:9(NASB95)
“The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”
As we look forward to Palm Sunday tomorrow, we need to prepare our hearts in worship. This hymn was written in 2006 by Brooke Fraser Ligertwood, painting a picture with words of how she saw people worshiping Jesus. Each verse starts as a proclamation of “I see…”, depicting what could be if people allowed God to work in their lives. Just as important, it goes on to demonstrate a heartfelt desire for revival, having the singers cry out for us to be shown how to love and to do everything for the kingdom of God.
Heal my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me.
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:
Hosanna!
I see the King of glory
Coming on the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes
The whole earth shakes
I see His love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing
The people sing
Hosanna Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith
I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We’re on our knees
We’re on our knees
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love
Like You have loved me
Everything I am
For Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity
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Seize the Moment – Day 1109
A Prayer of Acceptance!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, March 31.
God has revealed Himself to His people through both His creation (Psalm 19:1-6) and His Word (Psalm 19:7-11). The heavens proclaim God’s glory, whereas His Word reveals the way to be acceptable in His sight (salvation). Psalm 19:12-14 explains why God has made Himself and His ways known to His people:
Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
God desires for His people to respond to the mercy and grace He has extended toward them. He wants to redeem you back to a personal relationship with Himself, so He made a way for you to come to Him. God had to prescribe a way that allows you, a sinful person, to “be acceptable in [His] sight” because He is holy, and you are not – He cannot have anything unholy in His presence. Isaiah 56:7b demonstrates how He did this through sacrifices, “Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
While God no longer requires animal sacrifices for you to be acceptable in His sight, He has invited “all the peoples” to put their faith in the final atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for their acceptance. Paul explains 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.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 19, meditating upon God’s means of grace given to you through the shed blood of Jesus Christ – offer yourself as a sacrifice to God and you will be accepted (Galatians 2:20).
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 1108
Thank God for Salvation!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, March 30.
Psalm 18 is a song of thanksgiving, from which we learn how to thank God for our salvation. Psalm 18:1-3 begins with David’s celebration of God’s victory over his enemies:
I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 18, meditating upon your thankfulness to God for sending His Son Jesus Christ to save you – “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
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 1107
The Call for Divine Protection!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, March 29.
Who do you turn to when you come under attack? David needed God’s protection from his enemies. In Psalm 17:12, he made this familiar comparison, “[My enemy] is like a lion that is eager to tear, and as a young lion lurking in hiding places.” Peter made a similar comparison to the true enemy of our souls, in 1 Peter 5:8, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” How did David respond to the enemy? He called to God for divine protection in Psalm 17:7-8 and 15:
Wondrously show Your lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand from those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings. … As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.
You can follow David’s example by calling to God according to James 4:7, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” People want the authority to rebuke the devil, or the power to defeat their enemies – they want the benefits of God, but are they willing to meet the requirements of God for His divine protection? You must submit to God before you will find refuge at His right hand. The surest protection you have from a prowling lion is to find a safe place where it can’t get to you. There is no safer place than in a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ – take refuge from your enemies by submitting your life to God’s authority! God is your Savior, seek Him first (Matthew 6:33)!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 17, meditating upon where you are finding your security in this life. Submit to God and find refuge at His right hand.
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 1106
Pray with Faith!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, March 28.
David was a man of great faith! Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Truly, this is what we see David exercising in Psalm 16, as evidenced by verses 8-11:
I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
The emphasis of David’s prayer is his faith in the power of God. He declared that the Lord is with him, and because of God’s presence, he will be shown the path of life, receive fullness of joy, and experience pleasures forever. David had confidence in God’s ability to keep His promise from 2 Samuel 7:16, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”
David trusted God for the resurrection! His faith proclamation was quoted by Paul in Acts 13:34-35, “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to undergo decay.’” David believed in God’s power to raise the dead a thousand years before the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 16, meditating upon the security of God’s covenant promise of the resurrection – “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?” (John 11:25-26). Pray with faith!
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 1105
A Prayer of Abiding!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, March 27.
It is important to spend time with the people you love. Relationships require an investment of time together, that includes your relationship with God. My morning coffee time with Jesus is my favorite, and most important, time of the day; it’s when I hear the invitation to be with Him, just as He invited His disciples in Mark 6:31, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” I need this time with Jesus every day!
David began Psalm 15 with a question, “O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?” (1). David answered his own question with six couplets that demonstrate how abiding in a relationship with God positively impacts a person’s character, in speech, conduct, values, integrity, and finances. He concluded in Psalm 15:5, “He who does these things will never be shaken.” When you abide with God, spend time with Him, then you will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock (Matthew 7:24-27).
This psalm gets to the heart of our relationship with God. We are justified by the finished work of Jesus Christ, through faith in His life, death, and resurrection. Apart from faith, we cannot abide in God, nevertheless be able to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Yet, once we believe, the regenerative presence of the Holy Spirit causes us to become more than we could have been apart from Him, and He manifests the good fruit of righteousness in our lives, just as David taught in Psalm 15.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 15, meditating upon the invitation of Jesus Christ to spend time with Him – “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
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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