Advent 2022 – Week 1
Welcome Home: Inviting Jesus to Make My Heart His Home!
“A Home of Hope”
He was fresh out of the military and multiple deployments oversees. He saw ghosts during the day and fought them in his sleep. He saw the eyes. The eyes that never blinked. The eyes he would never forget. The eyes that looked back at him every time he shaved. They weren’t his own, but they were the eyes through which he experienced the world. The drinking helped, but it was never enough. He was desperate for peace but found none. He told himself he was unforgiveable for what he had done; what those eyes saw him do. What he knew he was guilty of. His buddy told him that he had found some peace after becoming a part of a group that met a couple times a week. He said they talked about real life, prayed about real struggles, read from the Bible, and found real answers, helped each other out in real ways. He was happy for his buddy. God knows everyone needs a little peace in this hell of a world we live in. But they weren’t him and they hadn’t done what he did. He had to be cursed because it sure did feel like his demons were getting the best of him. He called up his buddy, not knowing where else to turn. It was late, really late, he couldn’t sleep, he didn’t want to sleep. Nights were hard. His buddy answered the phone. They were going to meet at Steak-n-Shake in 30 minutes. His buddy told him that he had been praying for him and that he had been waiting for this moment. He told him that he had some good news to share with him. God knows he needed some good news. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this hopeless existence. He walked out the door to go meet with his buddy, hoping to feel hope for the future again.[1]
This is a situation that has been playing out for generations, in many shapes and sizes. There are the lost stories of the Civil War and World War I veterans who came home. There are the whispered stories of the World War II & Korea War veterans who came home. There are the loud stories that I grew up with of the Vietnam veterans who were homeless and struggling with substance abuse. There are the sensational stories of the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans coming home lost to themselves and their families, with devastating suicide rates.
These stories of veterans coming home from war and struggling to transition back into their families and communities have a theme – the soldier may have left the war to come home, but the war didn’t leave them just because they came home. We’ve said, “Welcome home!” Now let’s welcome soldiers home from war in a way that invites them to experience the qualities of a home of faith that will be healing to them and to all our families – a home, which is characterized by hope, love, joy, and peace.
There is a lot of preparation that goes into a homecoming, for both those at home and the soldier who is returning. The home itself must be actively prepared to be a home of hope, love, joy, and peace, just as the soldier must intentionally work on transforming his mind and heart from a posture of hyper-vigilance (called “Battle Mind”) to being in a posture of rest. Jesus wants to make His home in each of our hearts and in all our homes, and it is His presence in our hearts and homes that transforms us.
This Christmas, I am inviting you to surrender your heart to be Christ’s home so that your home may become a home of hope, love, joy, and peace – a place where the weary of mind and body, and heavy-burdened of heart and soul, can come and find rest (Matthew 11:28-30). If you want to transform your home, you must start with your own heart – you must become a person of hope, love, joy, and peace.
Today, the message will focus how our faith invites Jesus Christ to transform our hearts into a home of hope. Our Scripture for this message is Psalm 62:5-8:
My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Selah invites us to take a breath, pause, and pray. So let us do that. Let us be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). Let us pray.
As we see in our passage today, a home of hope is a place of patience – a people who have learned to be still, to wait in silence, to trust God in the uncertainty and unknowing. We create a safe place for soldiers to come home when we are a patient presence for them and create space for grace amid the struggle and turmoil of stress, uncertainty, insecurity, and fear.
We come to know that God is our refuge only after we have learned how to hide ourselves in Him. It is easy to hide yourself behind a façade of success, a busy schedule, a nice appearance. But hiding in anything but God only leads to a loneliness that seeps into our souls. We hide in God so that we can risk being seen by others.
We come to know that God is the rock of my strength only after we have learned to build our lives firmly upon Him – the rock, the only secure foundation. It is tempting to build our lives on our jobs and reputations, our volunteer efforts and good works, and our pleasures and hobbies. When we build our lives on anything other than God, we are building our lives on shifting sands. We build on the rock so that we can risk being involved in real ways in real life.
We come to know that God is our salvation when we learn to put our trust in Him alone. It is preferable to keep ourselves as the center of our lives, to fight for control, to carry the full weight of responsibility for our own destinies, but when we do so we never learn to trust anyone else, and we end up crushed by our inability to carry the load to the finish line. We trust God alone for our salvation so that we can risk loving and trusting others in everyday life.
We must wait upon God so that this hope gets in our bones, so that our faith is a truth that transcends a propositional statement. Faith is meant to be what upholds us as we learn to hope in what we believe is true and wait upon the God who promises to deliver on our faith. A home of faith gives us the hope we need to be a soft place to land and a space of grace for living.
Hope is a right expectation in God – I wait upon Him knowing that He will show up in my situation. As the prince of prophets taught us in Isaiah 40:28-31:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.
Hope is not wishful thinking – it is the certainty of Immanuel, God is with us! The Christmas miracle provides you stability during the trials and tribulations of your everyday life. Today, the first Sunday of Advent, we are invited to remember the first coming of Jesus Christ, which was awaited for a thousand years, from the time of God’s promise to King David, and for four hundred years since the faithful remnant of Jewish people received the promise of God in Malachi 3:1, “‘Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
The Jewish people were forged in a long season of waiting. When Jesus Christ came, the messengers of God proclaimed the fulfillment of their waiting in Luke 2:8-14:
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
It’s as if they were saying, “The wait is over! God has delivered on His promises! Your hope has been fulfilled. The victory has been won, and bestowed upon you, through faith in Jesus Christ! Don’t miss it!”
And I say to you, “DON’T MISS IT!” As those who believe in the Christmas miracle, hope is our superpower because hope never disappoints. God’s promises are worth waiting for, no matter how long you must wait for their fulfillment. As Paul promises in Romans 5:1-5:
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Hope is a mindset – a mental perspective that anchors your everyday life and situations in the reality of God and His victory over the devil, death, and sin through His Son Jesus Christ. Hope is an “anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19), which allows us make space for grace in our hearts and homes. If we want to welcome home the soldiers, then we need hope to be an essential quality of our lives. This hope is forged into our lives as wait for the Lord’s second coming. We conclude with the declaration of this hope from 1 Thessalonians 5:8-11:
But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
You can listen to this message by clicking below:
You can watch this message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] I found this story in my files. I’m not sure if I originally wrote it or if someone else did, but either way I modified it for this sermon. I am happy to give credit where credit is due, if I knew, all glory to God!
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Seize the Moment – Day 984
Today’s hymn focus will be
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Haggai 2:7 (KJV)
“And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.”
In 1744, Charles Wesley was pondering Haggai 2:7 while riding aboard a train coach. As he was looking at the class divide in Great Britain and what was happening with the orphans in the areas around him, he first wrote “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” as a Nativity prayer.
In 1855, Charles Spurgeon made a Christmas sermon noting that Jesus was born a King, not a prince, and was sent to rule our hearts and lives. This song appeared in both the Methodist and the Baptist hymn books ever since.
But it is important to realize that Wesley was also looking further towards the Second Coming of Christ, echoing the words that illustrate the believer’s hope and longing for His return. This is why we sing this song today.
Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.
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:
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
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Seize the Moment – Day 983
Face Frustration with Faith!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, November 25.
Every single one of us will face frustrations. Trials and tribulations are a part of life, just like Jesus explained in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Having faith and seeking to walk in the will of God does not give you a free and clear passageway through the frustrations and tribulations of living under the sun. Rather, faith gives you access to the Good Shepherd of your soul, Jesus, who promises you peace by walking with you through your valleys – “I fear no evil, for you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).
These frustrations did not last for a single town council meeting or a string of difficult congregational meetings; rather, the opposition to God’s plans lasted for decades. Would you persevere in the work of God if you had your initiatives approved by one administration, only to be shut down by the next? Would your church remain unified when the neighbors disrupted your work with threats, complaints, and discouragements? How do you face frustration – in faith or fear?
Seize the moment and don’t walk alone when you face frustrations! Cry out to the Good Shepherd of your soul to walk with you through the valley of the shadow (Psalm 23).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 982
The Day of Small Beginnings!
Ezra 3
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, November 24. Happy Thanksgiving!
There are many reasons to be thankful today so count your blessings one by one! God is doing a new work in our midst, but we must have eyes to see it. The remnant of Israel had to be reminded of this very thing in Ezra 3:11-12:
They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy.
This was not a time to weep so God sent two prophets to encourage the remnant and give them courage to persevere in the rebuilding of the temple. In Zechariah 4:10, the prophet asked a piercing question, “For who has despised the day of small things?” Boldly, in Haggai 2:9, the Lord trumpeted to those who were weeping, “‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”
The prophets were exhorting the people to persevere in the work of the Lord and to not be discouraged by how these small beginnings compared to what it used to be – God was doing a new work! Paul exhorts in Philippians 3:13b-14, “Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Seize the moment and don’t despise small beginnings – every new work must begin with a single cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-22). Build your life on the firm foundation of faith in Jesus Christ today (2 Corinthians 5:17).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 981
Firmly Rooted in God’s Promises!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, November 23.
When you transplant a tree or plant from one location to another, you can’t just pull it out and place it on top of the ground. It’ll die! You need to dig around it to ensure you have the root system in place, then you need to prepare the ground for it to be firmly rooted in its new location.
God preserved a remnant so that He could transplant them back into the Promised Land. Ezra 2 is a long chapter of names and numbers, introduced by verses 1-2:
Now these are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city. … The number of the men of the people of Israel:
The introduction ended with a faith declaration – these are “the people of Israel.” Remember that Israel is the covenant name of God’s people, which God gave to the patriarch Jacob in Genesis 35:10-12:
God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.”
After seventy years of captivity in Babylon, Ezra was reminding the remnant of who they really were and why they existed. He was giving them deep roots so they would thrive where they were transplanted to grow – in Jerusalem.
Seize the moment and be firmly rooted in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:14-19; Colossians 2:6-7). God has given you deep roots so you can bloom where He has planted 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 980
Be an Unlikely Hero!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, November 22.
The book of Ezra begins exactly where the Chronicler left off – with the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy that after seventy years Israel would return to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile. Interestingly, God’s hero of the first chapter of this post-exilic history book is not an Israelite, but a Persian king named Cyrus, who, after conquering the Babylonian Empire, was moved by God to “build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah” (2 Chronicles 26:23; Ezra 1:2). Cyrus was an unlikely hero!
The first temple in Jerusalem was constructed by Solomon, and it was destroyed by the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, some four hundred years later. As you learned from our journey through the Kings and Chronicles, those centuries were filled with division and devastation as Israel struggled to worship God with pure devotion.
But God, in His great compassion, redeemed Israel and chose to give them another chance. God did so by utilizing the resources at His disposal – real people in real history. In Ezra 1:3, Cyrus the king of Persia decreed to the remnant of Israel in Babylon, “Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.”
If it wasn’t for this unlikely hero, God’s people would have been left in exile. If it wasn’t for this pagan ruler, God’s Word, through His prophet Jeremiah, would have failed. But that’s impossible because God promises that His Word “will not return to Me empty” (Isaiah 55:11). God uses real people in real history to bring about his purposes. That means God can use you.
Seize the moment and be an unlikely hero in your world today. You never know how one faithful act of obedience could change history for a person, or a people.
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 979
Heed God’s Discipline!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, November 21.
Growing up, my dad would travel for work and my mom would be left at home outnumbered by us boys. We were always pushing one another’s buttons and pressing the limits of our mom’s patience, but there was one warning that we heard again and again, “You wait until your father gets home and hears about this.” Mom warned us of the coming danger…
The last chapter of 2 Chronicles walks through the last four kings of Judah – Jehoahaz (or Joahaz, 1-3), Jehoiakim (4-8), Jehoiachin (9-10), and Zedekiah (10-21). But the focus is not on the kings themselves; rather, it’s on God and why He brought justice to His people. As 2 Chronicles 36:21 explains, it was at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian Empire that Jerusalem was destroyed and Judah was exiled, “to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete” (cf. Leviticus 26:34-35).
Jeremiah gave this word in Jeremiah 25:12 and 29:10, but he was not the only prophet to have warned them of God’s coming justice, as 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 states of God’s compassionate efforts to rescue His people from the consequences of their rebellion:
The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.
I get it now that I’m older and a parent myself – I should have listened to my mom’s warnings. In the same way, we need to pay attention to the Spirit as He speaks to us through God’s Word – Jesus is coming and only He can rescue you from the coming wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 5:9).
Seize the moment and heed God’s discipline (Hebrews 12:7-11)!
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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Table of Blessings! 2022
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.
You can listen to this service by clicking below:
You can watch this service by clicking HERE.
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Seize the Moment – Day 977
Today’s hymn focus will be
“We Gather Together”
Psalm 100:4 (NASB95)
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.”
Once again, I find myself without much of a voice due to a recurring ear infection. But that is not about to stop me from bringing God praise. In addition to this phone call, tomorrow morning we will be encouraged as a church through the testimonies of three families, giving praise to God for what He has done in and through their lives this past year.
Today’s hymn was written in the 16th century by an anonymous Dutch author to encourage their fellow congregants to worship and give God praise. During this time, the church was being oppressed by a Spanish rulership and they wanted religious freedom. In the late 1800’s, the hymn entitled “Prayer of Thanksgiving” was translated into English by Theodore Baker, a musicologist from New York who had studied in Leipzig, Germany. It was then published as a traditional Thanksgiving hymn in 1894.
It can be found in our hymn book as hymn 561.
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens, His will to make known.
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:
We Gather Together
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
Sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.
Whose kingdom calls all to the love which endures.
So from the beginning the fight we were winning:
You, Lord, were at our side; all glory be yours!
And pray that you still our defender will be.
Let your congregation escape tribulation:
Your name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
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Seize the Moment – Day 976
Stay in your Lane!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, November 18.
Josiah was a faithful king who brought Judah back to right worship with God. But even he made bad decisions that came with terrible consequences. We need to learn that just because we have a right relationship with God doesn’t mean we are automatically correct in all that we think, say, and do.
If you were to look at a map, it quickly becomes obvious why Josiah did what he did – the Egyptian army was marching through his land on their way to a battle up north. Josiah was protecting the borders, but, ultimately, the Chronicler, in 2 Chronicles 35:20-21, makes it clear that God didn’t want him to fight this battle:
After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him. But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you.”
Josiah ignored Neco’s words and marched his army to Megiddo, as described in verse 22, “However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of Megiddo.” [emphasis added] It was in this unnecessary battle that he was killed.
Do you decide to get involved in situations that aren’t yours to meddle in? Proverbs 26:17 warns, “Like one who takes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him.” Instead of getting yourself or others hurt by meddling in things that you shouldn’t, here is some godly counsel for you – stop meddling and start praying!
Seize the moment and stay in your lane – “lead a quiet life and attend to your own business” (1 Thessalonians 4:11)!
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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