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 1031

Don’t Kick a Man when He is Down!

Job 5

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, January 12.

 

Have you ever had someone add insult to injury? The last thing any of us needs when we are in a position of weakness and vulnerability, like when we our suffering, is to be kicked when we are already down.

 

Job 4:1-2 introduced Eliphaz the Temanite and the first of the dialogues between Job and his friends that will compose most of the book, “If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient? But who can refrain from speaking?” After silently sitting with Job for seven days (Job 2:11-13) – a wonderful gift of friendship – Eliphaz could no longer restrain himself from talking, especially after Job lamented his own birth. Honestly, people generally get nervous when a friend laments life and wishes for his or her own death.

 

As we see in Job 5:17-18, nearing the end of his forty-eight verses of counsel to Job, Eliphaz may have been correct in what is he is saying about God, but he was inaccurate in his application to Job’s unique situation, “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.” Eliphaz was right and wrong at the same time.

 

Job responded that a friend should not kick a friend when they are down, saying to Eliphaz in Job 6:14, “For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; so that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty.” When people are suffering, they need mercy and compassion from their family and friends, not judgment and accusation. They need you to help them have the courage to get back up, not kick them back down.

 

Seize the moment and “bear the weaknesses of those without strength” (Romans 15:1; Galatians 6:1-2). Help your friends by lending them a helping 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.

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

 


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Seize the Moment – Day 1030

Put your Hope in God!

Job 4

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 11.

 

Where do you put your hope in times of suffering? Do you trust that you can get yourself through the situation or do you call upon God to deliver and rescue you? In Job 4:3-6, the first of Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, responded to Job’s lament with a similar question:

 

Behold you have admonished many, and you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have helped the tottering to stand, and you have strengthened feeble knees. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?

 

There is a reality that Eliphaz’s question reveals to me as a caregiver – How will I handle my own suffering and grief when it is my turn to walk through the valley of the shadow of death? Will all the counsel I offered others through their difficult times strengthen me to walk through my own challenging circumstances with faith, hope, and love, or will my words evaporate like mist under the scorching sun of a summer day?

 

There is only one way to guarantee that our counsel offered to help others is not like the dross that will burn away, and that way is to point people to hope in God as their sole source of confidence. My hope is not in the integrity of my ways, but in the infallibility of God’s Word (Isaiah 55:11). May all the help we give to others point them to the Lord – “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2).

 

Seize the moment and put your confidence in God – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6; cf. Proverbs 28:26).
 

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 1029

Experience the Power of Lament Prayer!

Job 3

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 10.

 

Lament is a form of prayer. It’s honest. It’s direct. It’s personal. Lament is not a pity party, as some would see it, because it is directed to God, like when a baby reaches out for its mom. There is a purpose to our lament just like there is a purpose behind a baby’s cry. A baby cries because it believes someone cares enough to answer. That is the true power of lament prayer – it is a declaration of our faith that the One we are praying to cares enough to respond.

 

Instead of cursing God as Satan argued Job would do (Job 2:5), and his wife advised him to do (Job 2:9), Job lamented. Job cursed the day of his birth, crying out in Job 3:1-5:

 

Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said, “Let the day perish on which I was to be born, And the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; let not God above care for it, nor light shine on it. Let darkness and black gloom claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.”

 

You don’t need to worry about whether you are right or wrong in how you cry out to God in your suffering. The key is to trust that you have a relationship with the One to whom you are crying out. I heard a heartbreaking story of an orphanage where the babies no longer cried in their cribs. It wasn’t that they no longer needed anything, but they had learned that no one cared enough to respond. God loves you, and He cares enough to respond to your cries.

 

Seize the moment and experience the power of lament prayer – “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

 

God bless you!

 

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

 

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

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

 
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1028

Face your Crises with Integrity!

Job 2

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, January 9.

 

How do you respond in the moment of great suffering? In our journey with Job, we are going to watch him suffer both in a moment and over a long stretch of time. These first two chapters capture his resolve to remain righteous in the initial crisis. Chapter 1 brought about the loss of all his animals and children, which represented the loss of his wealth and future security. In this chapter, we observe the onset of a painful illness, which will lead him to wish he was never born.

 

The heavenly wager intensified in Job 2:3-4, after Job remained faithful to God, even though he had suffered many great losses in a single day:

 

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.” Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

 

God authorized Satan to use non-lethal means to further test Job’s integrity, and great personal suffering was brought upon Job (6-8). His wife even rebuked his resolve to remain righteous before God and said, “Curse God and die!” (9). Job remained righteous before God as Job 2:10 captures his response to his wife,
 
“But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

 

When you are in pain, do you sin with your lips? How do you accept adversity from God?

 

Seize the moment and face your crises with integrity – “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

 

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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Train to Live on Mission – Week 38

Pursue Godliness in your Finances!

Proverbs 28:6-8 (NAS95)

 

This month, I am finishing our 2022 sermon series, “Train to Live on Mission Today: The Battle Drills of a Christian Soldier.” After laying a firm foundation from 2 Timothy 2:1-4 so we can properly understand how the Bible uses the soldier imagery as a metaphor for the Christian life, we have then taken a year-long journey through the book of Proverbs.

 

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Pursue Godliness in your Finances!” We are going to learn the importance of putting God first in all that we do. Ultimately, godliness is the inside-out obedience to the Greatest Commandments, given to us by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40:

 

And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

 

I say “inside-out” because we serve that which we love! Then, ultimately, we love that which we serve. Personally, it always starts with what we love in our secret places, whether that is what we say we love or not in our public declarations. The evidence of what we love is in that which we serve, that which we give our most precious commodities. Which is why Paul warned his protégé in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

 

Christian soldiers must not allow anything to distract them from the mission, for which we have been saved (2 Timothy 2:4). Can we all agree that financial issues can be quite distracting, and at times pierce us with grief? Whether it’s a repossessed car, growing medical bills, the monthly pressures of household costs, or the desire to save for education, housing, a vacation or your retirement, the realities of financial pressure can be daunting. It is not uncommon to find ourselves more than distracted by money issues, but dominated by the worries of tomorrow as our minds and hearts are hijacked by insecurity and fear. For us to CM, continue the mission, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ we must train ourselves to pursue godliness in our finances. Let’s turn to the Field Manual and take the first step of a soldier’s training regimen.

 

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 28:6-8:

 

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is crooked though he be rich. He who keeps the law is a discerning son, but he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father. He who increases his wealth by interest and usury gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor.

 

This is what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply it to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

 

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

Money is an effective tool, but a terrible master.
 
For most of our lives we invest our most precious commodities – our time and energy – to get more of it. Therefore, as a fundamental premise of ordering our lives, we must remember for what reason we trade our time and energy for money. Is it so we can afford to live, to achieve a level of lifestyle we want to live? Which begs the question, what kind of life are you to live as a Christian soldier who has been enlisted to live on mission for Jesus?

 

The answer to this question is where the rubber meets the road in the importance of this battle drill in your daily life. As we learn from the book of Proverbs, pursuing godliness in your finances is all about living a life of integrity! Proverbs 28:6 teaches us that our integrity is more valuable than wealth – “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is crooked though he be rich.” Solomon continues in verse 8 to rebuke the ungodly gain of wealth, especially when taking advantage of the poor through “interest and usury” (Proverbs 14:31; Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:36-37). Truly, we are to love our neighbor, not use them for financial prosperity. That will only diminish your soul! Quite the opposite as Proverbs 11:24-25 explains, “There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.”

 

There is a greater purpose of wealth management that I will highlight at the end of today’s sermon. But, before we get there, let’s look at the larger scope of the “love of money” passage that I referenced in the introduction so that we can see how pursuing godliness in your finances is an essential battle drill to the Christian life, as Paul taught his protégé in 1 Timothy 6:6-12:

 

But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

 

The larger context of pursuing godliness in your finances is only 18” away – the distance between your head and your heart! You can’t take money with you, nor can it fulfill you in this life or in the life to come, so I exhort you to get your appetites under control and in submission to Christ – Learn contentment! Paul testified to this in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” Here’s the bottom line, if you are not content with God, then you will never manage your finances well. Your passions are in control if God isn’t the one shepherding your heart. By the way, contentment is a promise of the Good Shepherd – “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). Because Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd of your soul (John 10:11-18), you are invited to practice this battle drill every day by bringing to Him your discontentment, caused by the lusts of the world and passions of the heart.

 

The beginning of your pursuit of godliness in your finances is learning to pursue God above all other needs or desires, to seek Him first! Until Christ is enough, nothing will satisfy! Let me teach you a simple equation for contentment: CHRIST + nothing = EVERYTHING you will ever need! That brings us to the third action step of a good soldier of Jesus.

 

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

Did you know every one of us is born with a “sucking chest wound.”
 
That’s a medical term and a military reality that we train for because it’s when a person gets a hole in their chest through a gun shot, stab wound, or shrapnel. Every infantryman learns how to temporarily treat this kind of wound so the person can get to the doctor. For soldiers, it becomes a metaphor for so much more than an actual physical wound – your debt, whether a car, house, or education, can become a sucking chest wound in your life!

 

This is a human problem, as described in Proverbs 27:20, “Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied.” This is not a new phenomenon. For example, when asked how much money is enough, John D. Rockefeller summarized the answer for most of us, “just a little bit more.” An ancient Chinese proverb states, “As gold is tested by fire, so man is tested by gold.” We all struggle with this – contentment is not easy because of this!

 

Pursuing godliness in your finances is all about your daily participation in the healing of your sucking chest wound! Jesus gave us the answer in Matthew 6:31-34:

 

Do not worry then, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear for clothing?” For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

Do you trust what Jesus said and prescribed to you is true and effective for you? You see, every person is born with a God-sized hole in his or her heart! Once again, I’m not talking about a physical wound, but a spiritual one, but one that affects every area of your life. The Bible is very clear that we have no life apart from God – in fact, it says we are “by nature children of wrath … dead in our transgressions” (Ephesians 2:3, 5). Jesus Christ came to fill that God-sized hole – to “[make] us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). The question is are you going to invite Jesus Christ to fill the hole and seal the sucking chest wound [the vacuum] of your soul or are you going to continue to treat it with band-aides. Nothing else will satisfy, at least not for long, and definitely not for an eternity, until you put Christ first and trust Him for everything.

 

So often, we try to fill the God-sized hole with things other than God. We try to find security in money; meaning in jobs; status in people, but only God will satisfy. Only God, the Mighty Physician, can heal your sucking chest wound. Apart from Him, the best you can do is the temporary fixes we infantrymen learned, slap something on the surface of the real issue to temporarily seal the vacuum so you can breathe for a while, but that is only a temporary fix. Both the answer and the call to mission is found in Paul’s words in Acts 20:33-35:

 

I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

 

This leads us to the final action step of our soldier’s training regimen.

 

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

What does this life look like as we learn to pursue godliness in our finances?
 
A life that prioritizes God in all things goes from a life of striving to fix itself with temporary fix after temporary fix to becoming a generous lifestyle! Once the Great Physician heals your sucking chest wound, by going deep to deal with the real issue, you are to participate in the ongoing work of ensuring that old wound doesn’t show up in your life again. For example, in Ephesians 4:28, Paul gave this example of what the Spirit will bring about in a Christian’s life, “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.”

 

Did you hear the motive clause of why a Christian work ethic? Not to do a temporary fix on providing for yourself; rather, it’s the motivation of Jesus Christ, as Paul taught us in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” Again, in Philippians 2:6-7, Paul defined this as the way of Jesus, “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” This refers to Jesus’ generosity given to us freely through His incarnation and death. Jesus offered Himself willingly and sacrificially as an example for all believers to follow. John put it this way in 1 John 3:16-18:

 

We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

 

This is the higher purpose of wealth management for Christian soldiers – we work hard not to increase our portfolios, but to increase our capacities for even greater generosity than before! Pursuing godliness in your finances is an inside-out process of bringing all things into submission to Christ so that all that you think, say, and do points to Him, including how you utilize the resources God has provided for you. May we all see it as the highest lifestyle choice to give more as we make more, to increase our giving as our earning power increases. Here is the easy win, which happens automatically when you make the decision ahead of time to set apart the first fruits for the Lord – as the Lord brings increase you’ve already purposed in your heart to give more of it; that is the beauty of tithing, not as a legalistic approach to giving, but as a fulfillment of 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” When you do so, you are living on mission as a good soldier of Jesus Christ because you are no longer distracted by the tools of the trade, you are focused on continuing the mission – CM and live a generous lifestyle!

 

Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.
 
 

You can listen to the message by clicking below:

 

You can watch this week’s message by clicking HERE.

 

 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1026

Today’s hymn focus will be

The Love of God

 

1 John 4:9  (NASB95)

 

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”        

 

Written in 1917 by Frederick M. Lehman, the song was inspired after attending a church service where he had heard a powerful sermon on the love of God. Facing challenging times after his business had failed, he was working on a farm boxing oranges and lemons. During one of his breaks, he sat down on a crate and wrote these words on a scrap piece of paper. The last stanza was inspired by a poem found in a prison cell, but actually turned out to written by a Jewish poet in 1050 A.D.

 

            O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!

            It shall forevermore endure, the saints’ and angels’ song.

 

We need to wake up and realize that God has a purpose for each and every one of us. He used a broken man that was inspired by a sermon to write a song that inspired others for generations to come. That man was reminded of a poem that he had heard about written on a prison wall by an inmate. That inmate wrote a poem from a forgotten Jewish poet. But they all carried the same message…God’s love is the same yesterday, today and forever and available for all who seek it!
 

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:

 

The Love of God

1
The love of God is greater far
than tongue or pen can ever tell;
it goes beyond the highest star,
and reaches to the lowest hell.
The wand’ring child is reconciled
by God’s beloved Son.
The aching soul again made whole,
and priceless pardon won.
 
Refrain:
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
the saints’ and angels’ song.
 
2
When ancient time shall pass away,
and human thrones and kingdoms fall;
when those who here refuse to pray
on rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
all measureless and strong;
grace will resound the whole earth round—
the saints’ and angels’ song. [Refrain]
 
3
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made;
were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,
and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;
to write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky. [Refrain]
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1025

Worship God in Every Circumstance of Life!

Job 1

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, January 6.

 

The book of Job is the first book of the Old Testament’s wisdom literature. In the first two chapters, we receive a rare glimpse into the divine council of God (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6), which I also emphasized in my 2 Chronicles 18 devotional. Job 1:8-9 narrates what sounds to be a legal debate between Satan, the adversary,[1] and God, the Judge, in this heavenly council,
 
“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.’ Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’”

 

Satan immediately argued against Job being a “blameless and upright man,” by accusing Job in verse 11, “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” This is the set up for what scholars have called the “heavenly wager,” which will cover the entirety of this forty-two-chapter book. The major question posed by Satan of Job, and of all humanity, was whether it was possible for a single person to truly be righteous, offering God a pure devotion that is not dependent on God’s blessings.

 

Who will win the heavenly wager? Let’s journey with Job to discover what it means to believe God in the presence of evil and suffering. By God’s grace, we don’t go on this journey alone, but with an Advocate in Heaven, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1-2). Yet you still must face the fundamental question of the book of Job – Will you trust God, no matter what?

 

Seize the moment and worship God in every circumstance of life. May you grow strong in faith and declare with Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

 

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:

 

[1] As a commentator explains of the Hebrew word translated Satan, “It appears in the Old Testament usually in connection with both military and legal contexts, that is, the figure called satan functions either as a military opponent (1 Sam 29:4; 1 Kgs 5:4 [18]; 11:14, 23, 25) or as an opponent in court, possibly even the ancient equivalent of the prosecuting attorney (Ps 109:6; cf. 2 Sam 19:22–23)” (Mark J. Boda, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: 1-2 Chronicles, vol. 5 [Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2010], 173–174).


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Seize the Moment – Day 1024

Have a Battle Buddy!

Esther 10

 

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

 

Esther had Mordecai, who do you have? The book of Esther emphasizes that the dynamic duo of Esther-Mordecai was a one-two punch that knocked out Haman and rescued the Jewish people from his evil plot to destroy them. While Esther is not named in either the first or last chapter, Mordecai is the emphasis of this last chapter, as we read in Esther 10:3,
 
“For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation.”

 

As we reflect upon the entirety of the book of Esther, we realize that neither character, Esther nor Mordecai, could have accomplished alone what they did together. Each of them was an essential agent of God in this dramatic story of the Great Reversal. God, the unnamed hero of the story, placed Esther onto Vashti’s throne as queen of Persia, transplanted Haman with Mordecai as second only to the king, and rescued the Jews from annihilation within the Persian Empire.

 

Both Esther and Mordecai are commemorated through the holiday of Purim. In fact, in 2 Maccabees 15:36, we see that over three centuries later the first day of Purim, the fourteenth day of Adar, was called, “Mordecai’s day.”[1] Do you think Esther would have been jealous of Mordecai’s elevation, or Mordecai of Esther’s? Absolutely not! They both trusted God’s sovereign grace to work in and through each of their lives to bring about a greater work than they could do alone!

 

Esther had a battle buddy – a person she depended upon to help carry the burdens of God’s purposes for her life. Paul said in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”

 

Seize the moment and don’t go through life alone! Who’s your battle buddy?

 

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:

 
[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), 2 Maccabees 15:36. While the first and second books of the Maccabees are not considered part of the Protestant canon, they are read as ancient historical records of the Maccabean Revolt, which occurred during the second century BC. From it, we find collaborating evidence that Mordecai was commemorated by the Jewish people.
 

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Seize the Moment – Day 1023

Celebrate God’s Victories in your Life!

Esther 9

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 4.

 

How do you celebrate the major victories of your life? Is there anything that you commemorate every year because it is important for you to remember it?

 

The Jewish people won a major victory against their enemies (Esther 9:1-19). Mordecai commemorated their victory with a new holiday called Purim, also called the Feast of Lots, because the wicked Haman had cast lots (pur in Hebrew) for the day of their destruction (Esther 3:7; 9:26). In fact, in a Great Reversal, this holiday occurs on the same day that Haman intended for the genocide of the Jews. We read about the institution of Purim in Esther 9:20-22:

 

Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

 

This Jewish holiday is still celebrated, and for some modern-day Jews, it is considered the most fun-filled, action-packed day of the Jewish calendar. According to a Jewish webpage, the Jewish people commemorate their deliverance from certain death through the reading of the book of Esther, the giving of gifts to the poor, and with the celebration of the Purim feast.[1]

 

Seize the moment and celebrate God’s victories in your life! Celebrate Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost with your church family, but also commemorate your salvation by remembering your baptism and other milestones of your Christian life.

 

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] What is Purim? https://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/645309/jewish/What-Is-Purim.htm (Accessed December 27, 2022).


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Seize the Moment – Day 1022

Don’t Stop Short!

Esther 8

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 3.

 

Don’t stop short of what needs to be done! It is easy to settle for less than the best of what God has for you, which often comes with disappointing, if not, disastrous results. That is certainly true in the story of Queen Esther. She could not give up her pursuit for justice upon Haman’s execution for his treachery. She had won a personal victory and gained Haman’s estate, but she could not stop short at personal wealth and political prosperity because the nation of Israel was still in grave danger. Esther had to act once again, for the good of her people, so she risked everything and pressed upon King Ahasuerus’ good graces a second time (Esther 8:1-6).

 

Esther’s bravery led to Mordecai being given the signet ring so that he had the authority to write a royal decree that would give the Jews the right to defend themselves. The Jewish people were saved from certain genocide, and Esther 8:16-17 testifies to their victory:

 

For the Jews there was light and gladness and joy and honor. In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree arrived, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.

 

Esther didn’t stop with personal success! We must not stop short in fulfilling God’s will in our world. Because it’s about more than you and your happiness; God has called you to be a part of His plan to bless all the nations – “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10; Matthew 29:18-20; Acts 1:8)!

 

Seize the moment and don’t stop short for why God saved you from certain death – you were blessed to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2)!
 

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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