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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.
Note:
We realize it isn’t easy to always find what you are looking for, so we are in the process of organizing these blogs. Click HERE to go to an index of blogs that reference our YouTube channel in order to get you where you need to go…
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26
Mar '23
Grow Strong in God’s Grace Wk 7
26
Mar '23
Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
Reap a Harvest: The Fourth Step of the Farmer’s Strategy!
Matthew 9:37-38; John 4:34-38; 1 Corinthians 9:7-11; Galatians 6:7-9 (NAS95)
We are learning that the strategy of a hard-working farmer has four steps, each of which the faithful farmer must diligently work, if the farmer hopes to harvest a large crop yield:
- Cultivate the soil.
- Sow the good seed.
- Care for the maturing plant.
- Reap a harvest.
The fourth step of the faithful farmer’s strategy is the heart’s desire of all hardworking farmers – the reaping of the harvest! As farmer’s cultivate the soil, they do so in preparation of sowing good seed. They sow good seed into the ground so that it will grow into the intended plant they have planted. Their expectation is the same as that of Jesus’ claim from Matthew 7:16, “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?” Farmers cultivate the soil and plant good seeds in expectation of having good crop yields of that which they planted.
To bring about the harvest, the farmers care for the maturing plant as it buds out of the ground. A farmer that uses the wrong kind of fertilizers, or provides too much or too little water, or doesn’t protect their crops from animals or insects, will find an otherwise healthy crop not producing as the farmer expected. Never forget that farming doesn’t feed just the farmer’s family, it feeds the whole world! We all would be concerned by a farmer that would feed the world with a crop he wouldn’t first feed to his own family. As 2 Timothy 2:6, our theme verse for this sermon series demonstrates, “The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.” Paul communicated to the church in Corinth a similar message, in 1 Corinthians 9:7-11:
Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
In the same way, the church of Jesus Christ is to bear the good fruit of the Holy Spirit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit provides the seed for us to sow into the world, starting in our own homes, schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods. What good is it to seek the welfare of the nations, if you are not doing so in the Spirit, evidenced by the fruit which exalts Jesus. There is an ancient story that I have reformatted to help us understand this truth:
There was a man who went out to change the world. After years of travel and great effort, he came to the realization that if he wanted to change the world, then he needed to start with his own nation. Upon seeking the welfare of his nation, he came to realize that if he wanted to change his nation he had to return to his own state. After great effort, he understood that if he wanted to change his state he had to start in his own community. Then after many years, he had the clarity that if he was to change the community he needed to start with his family. Finally, in his advanced years, with great wisdom and life experience, he had the epiphany that if you are going to change anything, then you first must be transformed yourself. The problem he saw with the world, with the nation, with his community, with his family, was his own and he could not bring thriving to the community until he was first transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ Himself.
This story captures our church’s mission and vision statements: We exist to transform stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ (mission). As the Spirit does this work in us through the good seed of God’s Word, we will see our communities thriving to the glory of God (vision). In other words, when you are blessed, you will become a blessing to others and that will bring flourishing (thriving) to our communities then to the region, nation, and nations. It is the Spirit of God who catches the good seed that is multiplied through the harvest of fruit bearing in your life which spreads it to the ends of the world as you go wherever and whenever God calls. This is the mission of God, and this is how we participate in the harvest work of God – it is the work of the Spirit to first transform us through the renewal of the mind so that others will come to life through the passing on of the good seed, from field to field, worker to worker.
What is it I hope to reap from this sermon series as I pray in the Spirit over each of these messages and over you who will receive the good seed of God’s Word? C. H. Spurgeon preached in 1871, “Preaching is sowing, prayer is watering, but praise is the harvest.”[1] It is my desire to see First Baptist Church of New Castle, Indiana witness a large crop yield of praise to the glory of God! That we will be an epicenter of revival throughout our region, into our nation, and to the nations. Until all worship, let us continue to be faithful to the Lord of the Harvest and respond to His call upon our lives to be hard-working farmers!
Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 9:37-38, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” Again, in John 4:34-38, Jesus said to them:
My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, “There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest”? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.
Like last week, I want to pull from a farmer’s experience to help us understand how we are to respond to the call of Jesus from these two passages because there is a very important concept here that is the whole point of this sermon series, which is called, “Grow Strong in God’s Grace.” Penny shared with me, “farmers need to maintain their equipment, faithfully. Otherwise, their work is doubled, their harvest reduced.” If you are going to answer Jesus’ call, then you must “maintain” the spiritual equipment of a hardworking farmer who seeks to produce a larger crop yield. As I have already taught you in a previous sermon, this is done by abiding in the vine (John 15:1-8) and taking on the easy yoke of Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30). Growing strong in God’s grace is all about absolute submission to Jesus Christ so that the Holy Spirit can flow into our lives. I’ve already taught you this in one of the earlier messages of this new sermon series, but like it has been pointed out to me after last week’s sermon, I need to remind you of this every week, so that no one thinks they can do this by their own power.
Harvest workers must “go” in God’s grace through prayer and by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we learn from Jesus about the harvest from Acts 1:7-8, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Missionary Elizabeth Elliot said, “Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.”[2] As you go into the harvest fields, go with faith in God and trust His Holy Spirit to do the work in and through you. Never forget how Jesus called His disciples in Mark 1:17, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Jesus promised that if they followed Him, the Spirit would transform them into Harvest workers. It is the same thing He promised using vineyard imagery in John 15:5, “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.” This is the language of growing strong in God’s grace! We are to go as Paul went – by the power of God’s Spirit! Just as Paul exhorted us and testified to in Ephesians 6:18-20:
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Furthermore, Paul testified to this truth in 1 Corinthians 15:1-10:
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
There are so many more passages to support this harvest reality; Reaping a harvest is dependent on God’s grace – the work of the Spirit. Here’s one more, Paul said in Galatians 6:7-9:
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
Jim G. told me a story after service that illustrates this point. He used to work in a farm store and one day a man came in with a problem. He had accidently used a ground sterilizer instead of a ground fertilizer. [cue the audible groan] The biggest problem was that he had good intentions when he did so, because he not only sprayed his own property, but he sprayed his neighbor property, too. [cue an even louder audible groan] He was trying to be a good neighbor, following the words of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself. I believe this a metaphor for our fleshly efforts, when we use worldly wisdom, to try to reap a harvest. As you’ve heard me say before if this is how you are going to love yourself then please don’t love me – I would hate for someone to hurt me when they thought they were loving me well. Can you imagine how that neighbor reacted to his neighbor’s love? I the same way that the world has reacted to an infighting, backbiting, fleshly church. They see us, then hear that we are followers of Jesus and say things like, “If this is the Jesus you represent, then no thank you!” To finish the story, Jim told me that to make things right with his neighbor the man had to remove 3 inches of earth from under the sod line because the ground sterilizer he thought was ground fertilizer got into the roots. Church, let’s not do damage to the soil and make the work of harvesting harder for future workers.
Unfortunately, this is a modern-day parable of the work the church of Jesus Christ needs to do in America today. Our witness to Christ, so often done in the flesh and motivated by a spirit of religion, motivated by ambition and ego, and not through prayer empowered by the Holy Spirit for the glory of God, has done more damage than good. Now we must do what the well-meaning man in the above story had to do. We must patiently, lovingly, and prayerfully cultivate the soil, removing the poison from the ground caused by worship wars and denominational wars so that the good seed can bear fruit in its time. We must not grow weary in doing good!
We need to learn from the example of the first great missionary of the church, the Apostle Paul, how we are to do the harvest work. In 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 Paul explained:
What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
Amen! It is like the modern-day parable I shared last week. We are to share our award-winning corn with our neighbors because the wind (the Spirit) will take the good seed from our harvest field and pollinate our neighbor’s field. We are in this together as the body of Christ – we are many members working together as one body to the glory of God. May the Spirt of God empower us to the glory of God!
You can listen to the message by clicking below:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] C. H. Spurgeon, “The Joy of the Lord, the Strength of His People,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 17 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1871), 717.
[2] Elizabeth Elliot, “Alone with God: Don’t Dig Up in Doubt What You Planted in Faith” https://elisabethelliot.org/resource-library/gateway-to-joy/alone-with-god-dont-dig-up-in-doubt-what-you-planted-in-faith/ (Accessed March 24, 2023).
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25
Mar '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1103
25
Mar '23
Today’s hymn focus will be
Lead Me To Calvary
1 Corinthians 2:2 (NASB95)
“For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
Many of the gospel songs of the nineteenth century were focused upon the cross and specifically Calvary, which remained central to the evangelicals even into the mid-twentieth century. Today’s hymn was written by New England Quaker Jennie Evelyn Hussey and was published in 1921. She created a compelling and memorable refrain with direct and evocative language and had a singable and easily learned melody to help solidify the theme in the singer’s mind and heart.
Lest I forget Gethsemane; Lest I forget Thine agony.
Lest I forget Thy love for me, lead me to Calvary
Jennie lived a selfless life, caring for an invalid sister, never complaining while serving her with love as Christ would have done.
We need to wake up and look at our life situations through the eyes of Jesus rather than through our worldly vision. When we do, we will see things differently and show the world what it means to love God and love others.
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.
You can listen to this hymn by clicking on the link below:
Lead Me to Calvary
Verse 1
King of my life I crown thee now —
Thine shall the glory be;
Lest I forget thy thorn-crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary.
King of my life I crown thee now —
Thine shall the glory be;
Lest I forget thy thorn-crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary.
Chorus
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
Verse 2
Show me the tomb where thou wast laid,
Tenderly mourned and wept;
Angels in robes of light arrayed
Guarded thee whilst thou slept.
Show me the tomb where thou wast laid,
Tenderly mourned and wept;
Angels in robes of light arrayed
Guarded thee whilst thou slept.
Chorus
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
Verse 3
Let me like Mary, thru the gloom,
Come with a gift to thee;
Show to me now the empty tomb —
Lead me to Calvary.
Let me like Mary, thru the gloom,
Come with a gift to thee;
Show to me now the empty tomb —
Lead me to Calvary.
Chorus
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
Verse 4
May I be willing, Lord, to bear
Daily my cross for thee;
Even thy cup of grief to share —
Thou hast borne all for me.
May I be willing, Lord, to bear
Daily my cross for thee;
Even thy cup of grief to share —
Thou hast borne all for me.
Chorus
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.
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24
Mar '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1102
24
Mar '23
Change the Altitude of your Attitude!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, March 24.
Perspective matters! The vista from which you are looking at life shapes your attitude. You will either see life from the perspective of Earth and what has already happened to you, and you will be chained to your past. Or you will see life from the viewpoint of Heaven and what has been promised to you by God, and you will “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
Live in the hope of your salvation, and not out of the regrets of your depravation. Psalm 14:2-3 provides a sobering perspective on our shared humanity, “The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Every person has the same starting point in life – an earthly one! It doesn’t matter to what family or in what country you were born, whether you are male or female, or if you are rich or poor. Paul explained in Romans 3:22-23, “for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (cf. Philippians 2:1-3).
But God! There is hope through the free gift of God in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23)! We live as more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus when we change the altitude of our attitude! David concluded his prayer in Psalm 14:7, focusing on the hope of God’s promise, “When the Lord restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.” He kept his eyes on what was to come, not on what lay behind.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 14, meditating upon the victory of Jesus Christ! Pray with perspective. Change the altitude of your attitude and you will persevere unto the end.
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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23
Mar '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1101
23
Mar '23
Praying for the Presence!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, March 23.
When someone is going through a difficult time in their lives, whether it is an extended illness, a discouraging work situation, a challenging family crisis, or even their own dark night of the soul, I point them to the promise of Jesus in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” I then pray for the presence of God to be manifested in the person’s life, that God would reveal Himself in a tangible way, so that the person can know God is there. God does not abandon His people in their time of need.
Feelings of abandonment are a deep reality for many people in times of struggle. David experienced these real human emotions, and expressed his angst to God in Psalm 13:1-2, “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”
David was expressing the deepest longing of every human heart – to experience unceasing union with God. The critical moment of Psalm 13 happens in verse 3, when David asked God to turn towards him, “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.” See me. Help me. I need You. David was asking God to make His face to shine upon Him and to lift His countenance upon Him (Numbers 6:24-26). When you find yourself struggling, cry out to Jesus who promises in John 14:18 to give you God’s unceasing presence through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 13, meditating upon the miracle of Jesus’ promised presence in your life. You are never alone because God is “with you always”!
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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22
Mar '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1100
22
Mar '23
Seek Clarity in Times of Confusion!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, March 22.
Have you ever needed a word of clarity in a time of great confusion? David did, and Psalm 12 captures David’s pursuit of God in a time when he was surrounded by people who were using words to manipulate and deceive. Psalm 12:2 describes, “They speak falsehood to one another; with flattering lips and with a double heart they speak.” David needed to hear from a reliable source, so he went to God in prayer.
God responded to David’s prayer in Psalm 12:5, “‘Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will arise,’ says the Lord; ‘I will set him in the safety for which he longs.’” David commented on the trustworthiness of God’s promise in verse 6, “The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.” David found clarity in the reliability of God’s Word! C. H. Spurgeon explained of this verse in his classic work, The Treasury of David:
The Bible has passed through the furnace of persecution, literary criticism, philosophic doubt, and scientific discovery, and has lost nothing but those human interpretations which clung to it as alloy to precious ore. The experience of saints has tried it in every conceivable manner, but not a single doctrine or promise has been consumed in the most excessive heat.[1]
God’s Word stands the test of the worst of situations! Navigating through life, relationships, and difficult circumstances can be challenging when we don’t know if we can trust what we are reading from the news, seeing on social media, or hearing from our friends and family. We need a trustworthy source in today’s world!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 12, meditating upon the trustworthiness of God’s Word. Put your hope in God and in His promises, and you will find clarity in times of confusion!
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 1-26, vol. 1 (London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 143.
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21
Mar '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1099
21
Mar '23
Pray for the Foundations!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, March 21.
What are the burning issues of today’s world? The list is long, but it is important to do this exercise and then to pray through it. As you pray for the world and the nations, what’s most pressing upon your heart as you consider the future? The question asked by David in Psalm 11 was identified as the burning question of his day, in 1939, by the great Bible teacher Arno C. Gaebelein.[1] What was that burning question? In Psalm 11:3, David asked, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
In 2005, another great Bible teacher James Montgomery Boice reiterated David’s burning question for his day, “What shall we do when the laws are not upheld, when morality is undermined and evil sweeps on unchecked? What shall we do when the Bible is undermined and its teachings disregarded – when even churchmen seem to support the rising tide of secularism?”[2] I add my humble voice to these Bible teachers by agreeing that David’s three-thousand-year-old question is the burning issue of our day – What happens to our democracy, when we can no longer engage in civil discourse because we vehemently disagree with one another on the foundational issues of our human identity, such as gender, sexuality, and marriage?
What can the righteous do when the foundations are being destroyed from right under our feet? David’s response was to take refuge in the Lord (1). Never forget the hope you have in Christ as you face the uncertainties of the future – “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; the upright will behold His face” (7; cf. Matthew 5:8).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 11, meditating upon the promises of God secured for you in Jesus Christ. Build your life on His teachings, so as the storm rages, your life will “not fall, for it had been founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-27).
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 91.
[2] Ibid.
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20
Mar '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1098
20
Mar '23
A Life of Devotion!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, March 20.
Do you pray for success? For what kind of prosperity are you praying? In Psalm 10:3-5a, David observed, “For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns the Lord. The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’ His ways prosper at all times.”
Is there something wrong with wanting to experience a little reward for our hard work? No! The issue is not wanting prosperity, but in how we go about achieving success. Are you going to use any means necessary to accomplish your goals? That’s the way of the wicked. David observed this reality three thousand years ago, which is why he ultimately cried out to God in verse 12, “Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted.” David was surrounded by the injustices caused by the wicked, so, in response, he humbled himself before God. Rather than taking the well-worn path leading to success and prosperity, he followed the narrow way of faithfulness to God. How rare that is, to find a capable person who is willing to forsake the trappings of worldly success to experience the prosperity of his or her soul?
It can be tempting to use God for your own success; to declare your allegiance to Him, but then live as if there is no god. How the soul withers when we call ourselves Christians yet forsake God in our day-to-day lives! We are called to live a life of devotion, not just have a devotional time.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 10, meditating upon God’s word day and night, “so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success” (Joshua 1:8).
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.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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19
Mar '23
Grow Strong in God’s Grace Wk 6
19
Mar '23
Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
Care for the Maturing Plant: The Third Step of the Farmer’s Strategy!
Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43; Luke 13:6-9 (NAS95)
We are learning that the strategy of a hard-working farmer has four steps, each of which the faithful farmer must diligently work, if the farmer hopes to harvest a large crop yield:
- Cultivate the soil.
- Sow the good seed.
- Care for the maturing plant.
- Reap a harvest.
We have already discussed the first two steps: First, we are called to cultivate the soil. We are to prepare people’s hearts to receive the good seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus explained the Parable of the Four Soils for us, teaching us how to discern the condition of each person’s heart and mind, in hopes of reaping a harvest of praise, to the glory of God. We meet people where they are, loving them, praying for them, caring for them so that we may have the privilege of the second step of the farmer’s strategy, lovingly sowing the good seed into their lives in word and deed. We learned that the seed we are to sow is God-breathed, not of our own invention, so we can relax and be a peaceful, loving presence – non-anxious and non-defensive in the sharing and caring of doing so. Today, we continue in that same presence of mind, centered on the faith that God has given us by His grace, to continue to build relationships, truly and sincerely caring for the maturing plant, just as others care for us.
We pass it on! Friday morning, I was blessed to be invited to share my vocational and educational story with the students at New Castle Middle School. What an inspiring experience it was for me! I had the privilege of speaking to four groups of students – these young plants that I was blessed to care for by helping them in their maturing process of rightly thinking about their futures careers and how they are going to plan the next steps of their lives. This opportunity was given to me by Amy Madden, mother of Eliza, who has been attending FBC with her boyfriend Alex, since he got out of the Marines. They are close friends with Emily & Matthew Hurst, who have been investing in this young couple for many years – caring for them in some of the most important developmental years of their lives. I’m so excited to see good fruit in their lives and look forward to the privilege of baptizing Alex this Easter. It is pure joy to be invited into their lives. Additionally, Amy, Eliza, and I have also found an intersection with the New Castle High School Track Team, as it was through their relationship with Emily that my backstory as an All-State high school and All-American thrower was discovered, and I was invited to be an assistant track coach, teaching high school students how to throw shot put and discus – these young plants that I am blessed to care for by helping them develop the character, work ethic, and life skills to reach their future goals.
I share this with you, because this privilege I have been given to serve the students of New Castle, Indiana is a beautiful and timely illustration of what today’s sermon is all about. To learn about how we are to go about caring for the maturing plants (of all people and ages), I am going to share with you Jesus’ parable, “The Parable of the Tares,” found in Matthew 13:24-30:
Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
Just like he did with the Parable of the Four Soils, Jesus explained the Parable of the Tares. This was a one of those rare occasions, so let’s take the time to hear Jesus’ explanation of this parable, found in Matthew 13:36-43:
Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Since I will not discuss the reaping until next Sunday, I want to emphasize to you this week the fabulous statement Jesus made in today’s parable. The Sower was asked by the laborers if he used good seed because there were tares maturing amidst the wheat. The Sower assured them of the quality of the good seed by emphasizing that there was an enemy who was sowing bad seed in the same fields, in all four of the soil conditions. The laborers, the hard-working farmers, were then given these words of instructions, so hear them as a word of revelation to you today, from Matthew 13:29-30, “No [don’t do the work of uprooting!]; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest.”
Allow me to further explain this with a farmer story given to me by one of our very own, Penny Stevens, who has been both a farmer’s daughter and farmer’s wife, and now works in farmers insurance:
There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.
“Why sir,” said the farmer, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”
So it is with our lives. Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. The quality of response and joy depends on the quality of thoughts and love we share and spread. And those who choose to be joyful must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.[1]
This is exactly what Amy Madden was doing on Friday morning. She was inviting good seed to be sown in the neighboring fields. It did not matter to her or to me about whether or not there was wheat or tares in the fields, we just brought them all together to be cared for, to have their soil cultivated, good seed sowed into their fields, and caring for their maturing plants. If there is anything I know about the harvest is it’s out of our control – It’s God’s Work, but we must do the hard work of a farmer and trust the Sower for the results. We find this liberating truth found in both the Old and New Testaments:
- Isaiah 61:11, “For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”
- 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”
Do the work of a hard-working farmer! Don’t prejudge the maturing plants because you may uproot where you should have been tending to it. God will judge the fruit of people’s lives. Let Him be God, because I am not, and neither are you! We are to invest our lives in positively impacting the lives of others. This is the mission of God!
- This is why I coach at the high school. I praise God that He can use my athletic background so that I can do the hard work of a farmer in those fields.
- This is why I volunteer as a chaplain to the Henry County Sheriff’s Office. I praise God that He can use my military background so that I can do the hard work of a farmer in those fields.
- This is why I go into the Indiana state prison in New Castle to preach monthly and teach weekly. I praise God that He can use my humanity so that I can do the hard work of a farmer in those fields.
- This is why I come to First Baptist Church of New Castle five days a week, week after week, year after year, for over 13 years now. I praise God that He can use my pastoral calling so that I can do the hard work of a farmer in these fields.
How do we do this? I conclude with some real-life farming illustrations to learn how to care for the maturing plants in whatever fields each of us is privileged to work:
- “Choose carefully what you use to nurture your crop. Fertilizer, insecticide, herbicide, and fungicide are all good things in the right amounts at the right time and will increase your harvest exponentially. Too much or too little, or applied at the wrong time, will at the very least reduce your harvest, or at the worst, kill your crop entirely. In the same way, water is necessary to grow a crop, but too much will destroy it.” We are called to care for the maturing plant by fertilizing it. We recognize that God will use all circumstances of our lives to deepen our soil and fill it with that which will help us grow, so that our branches are strong enough to bear fruit.
- “Use the right tools. Don’t use a plow when you need to use a planter; don’t use a bush-hog when you need a tiller; don’t use a planter when you need a combine.” A well-timed word of encouragement can bring life to a person, just as quickly as a harsh or careless word can bring death to a person. Be wise with your words!
- “There is no profit for a farmer to mistreat his livestock. He rejoices at births, mourns at deaths, ensures it is fed, watered, protected from the weather and predators, all the while knowing it is being done to provide food for the world.” We are called to persevere and protect the maturing plant. Don’t grow weary in doing good. Keep praying. Keep loving.
- “Fencing is only effective if it’s properly maintained. Holes in the fence will allow predators in, or livestock out.” Work your own fields. Boundaries are a gift to help you be effective and fruitful in your calling. Feeding the world is a shared enterprise and so is reaching the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Knowing the field you are called to work protects you and blesses those you are focused on reaching!
Care for the maturing plant and give the maturing plant every possible chance to bear the good fruit of the Harvest. I will close with another one of Jesus’ parables, from Luke 13:6-9:
And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”
Don’t uproot! Don’t destroy! God has not called you to be a doomsdayer, but a hoper-bearer! Keep your focus as hardworking farmers – the harvest! As C. H. Spurgeon preached in 1871, “Preaching is sowing, prayer is watering, but praise is the harvest.”[2] It is my desire to see First Baptist Church of New Castle, Indiana witness a large crop yield of praise to the glory of God! That we will be an epicenter of revival throughout our region and denomination, and into our nation and to the nations. Until all worship, let us continue to be faithful to the Lord of the Harvest and respond to His call upon our lives to be hard-working farmers!
You can listen to this message by clicking below:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Naren Kini, “My Neighbor’s Corn” https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=2395 (Accessed March 17, 2023).
[2] C. H. Spurgeon, “The Joy of the Lord, the Strength of His People,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 17 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1871), 717.
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18
Mar '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1096
18
Mar '23
Today’s song focus will be
Blessed Be The Name
Psalm 72:18-19 (NASB95)
“ Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.”
Taking a song and using part of its lyrics to create a new song is nothing new. In fact there is a current song that takes the titles of several hymns and create a new song of worship (Check out “This is My Song” by North Point Worship). In 1888, Ralph Hudson took Charles Wesley’s hymn “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing” that was written in 1739 and gave it a new spin by adding in the phrase “blessed be the name of the Lord” into the verses and creating a new chorus. William Kirkpatrick wrote the new accompaniment for this hymn that has been in the Baptist hymnbook ever since.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!
We need to wake up to the fact that it is not the style of the song, but the content of the words that lead us to proclaim God’s glory and majesty. So whether you are a little bit country, or a little bit rock and roll, or somewhere in between, we are all called to worship God!
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:
Blessed Be the Name
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17
Mar '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1095
17
Mar '23
The Pattern of Praise!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, March 17.
Psalm 9 is a hymn of unconditional praise to God. It starts with the command to praise, “I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” (vs 1-2) This psalm teaches me that the decision has been made, my mind is made up, no matter what I will praise God today!
How is this possible? How am I expected to praise God in the good, the bad, and the ugly of my life? There is a pattern of praise in Psalm 9 that teaches us how to do this: I remember how God rescued me in the past (3-6); therefore, I will praise God believing He will do it again in the future (7-20)! Paul exhorted believers to live this way in Ephesians 5:20, “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.”
God has bestowed grace upon you so that you can live a life of thanksgiving, as Psalm 9:13-14 highlights, “Be gracious to me, O Lord; see my affliction from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may tell of all Your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.”
Do you see the pattern of praise? God is gracious to you; therefore, you declare His praises and bless others! See it again in Psalm 51:12-13, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 9, meditating upon the grace of God freely given to you in Christ Jesus so that you may praise God with your whole life (Ephesians 2:8-10).
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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